New Jersey’s Out Like Lambs is a band that will no doubt get lumped in with folk/Americana artists over the coming months as their debut LP, Not So Winter Waltz, starts spreading around and gaining attention. That’s fine, I guess, if you’re interested in really limiting what this band seems to be all about. Listening to the 9 songs that comprise the new album I hear almost more of a free jazz influence, as songs don’t seem to have been rehearsed and recorded so much as given an attitude of “Let’s just invite a bunch of friends over and start playing and whatever happens happens. The more the merrier.” Not So Winter Waltz doesn’t belong to one genre because the diversity in these 9 songs transcends genre labels. The basis of these songs is certainly folk music, but rarely, if ever, do the songs follow any sort of familiar structure or logical route from Point A to Point B. Sixteen musicians are credited in the liner notes for having contributed to the recording, and if there’s an instrument that can be plucked, strummed, or blown into it probably makes an appearance. The songs themselves come across more like hymns, with whispers, high harmonies, and communal chants floating around in the mix over the dozens of instruments. Opener “Bred to Bug”, available below as a free download from the band, is a wondrous seven-minute slow jam that evolves without overpowering, its gentle, seemingly improvised beauty more felt than heard. And that’s the power of the rest of the experimental, wide-open songs that make up Out Like Lambs’ striking debut as well. New Jersey just keeps ‘em coming.
MP3 :: Bred To Bug (via Bandcamp)
(from Not So Winter Waltz. Buy here)
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