Showtunes is the fifteenth studio album by American rock band
Lambchop. It was released on May 21, 2021,[1] on
Merge Records in the United States and on
City Slang elsewhere.[2]
Background
The songs on Showtunes were initially meant to be performed live at
Eaux Claire by Lambchop, with help from
Twit One [
de],
Andrew Broder, and
Ryan Olson. After the festival was cancelled due to COVID-19, Wagner decided to finish these songs in studio.[2]
Showtunes was recorded remotely by
Kurt Wagner, the only permanent member of Lambchop.[3] It features as collaborators
James McNew of
Yo La Tengo, who contributed double bass;[2]CJ Camerieri, who contributed horns and horn arrangements;[4][2] Jeremy Ferguson, who acted as co-producer and engineer,[4] and Twit One, who co-wrote the track "Fuku".[5]
Unlike
Lambchop's previous work, on which Wagner played guitar, Showtunes features Wagner's guitar tracks converted into
MIDI piano.[6]Showtunes takes inspiration from musical theatre, hence the name; Wagner called it "
show tunes for people who don't like show tunes".[2]
Three singles were released in advance of the album: "A Chef's Kiss", on March 16, 2021;[7] "Fuku", on April 12, 2021, along with an accompanying music video directed by Doug Anderson;[8] and "The Last Benedict", on May 18, 2021.[9]
The album was released to positive reviews from music critics, garnering a score of 79 out of 100 on the review aggregator website
Metacritic based on nine reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews",[10] and a score of 7.7/10 from review aggregator website
AnyDecentMusic? based on 10 reviews.[11]