Lamb to get your afternoon rolling to an adventuresome place – recorded during the 2003 Lowlands Festival in Holland on August 29, 2003 and preserved for posterity by Radio Nederland.
Lamb are an extraordinary ensemble – a duo, consisting of Andy Barlow and Lou Rhodes, who round out the lineup, in this performance with Jon Thorne, bass – Quinta, violin-viola, Nikolaj Bjerre, drums-percussion, Danny Lohner – acoustic/electric guitar, effects, samples – and Kevin Davy – trumpet, flugelhorn, pocket trumpet.
A rundown on the group is provided by Spotify’s Sean Cooper & Paul Simpson, Rovi. – a good read:
Mancunian duo Lamb have achieved commercial success and critical acclaim with their distinctive, ever-evolving sound which combines passionate, heart-on-sleeve songwriting with unconventional arrangements informed by jazz, drum’n’bass, classical, and other genres. Lamb dwell in brash musical contrasts and, occasionally, contradictions that make their songs as musically complex and exploratory as they are vocally catchy. The duo’s self-titled 1996 debut, an arresting mix of jungle and trip-hop, contained the heartbreaking single “Górecki,” a Top 30 U.K. hit which would eventually be featured in several movies and TV shows. The duo pushed their sound further with 1999’s Fear of Fours, nodding to their penchant for highly complex time signatures. Expanding their sound to incorporate more live instrumentation, 2001’s What Sound contained the haunting ballad “Gabriel,” which became a chart-topping hit in Portugal. Following 2003’s Between Darkness and Wonder, the duo broke up; singer released a series of folk-influenced solo albums, while Andy Barlow produced material for other artists. Lamb returned with the full-length 5 in 2011, and continued touring and releasing studio and concert albums throughout the decade, while additionally pursuing their respective solo outings.
After a hiatus, which lasted from 2004-209, the duo reunited in 2009 for The Big Chill Festival, and played a few other dates over the next year. They also began recording material, and released 5, their first album in eight years, in May 2011 on their own label (through ). Surprisingly, it found their intuitive balance of songwriting and challenging production virtually unchanged, and reviews were positive. A concert album, Live at Koko, followed in 2011, and their sixth album, Backspace Unwind, appeared in October 2014 (also on ). In late 2017, Lamb toured Europe in celebration of the 21st anniversary of their debut full-length; the tour produced the concert recording Live at Manchester Cathedral. The duo’s seventh studio album, The Secret of Letting Go, appeared in 2019.
Grab lunch, find a spot, buckle your seatbelt and press Play – the adventure begins.
