“Your drug of choice, Mix it with a voice, A voice that’s creepy,” sings the bespectacled, trucker hatted, musical epicentre of Nashville collective Lambchop as he crouches protectively over his guitar. Such a line could easily be a mantra for slam poet and sound junkie Kurt Wagner, his low tobacco croak – while not so much creepy – resonates conviction like a stern but gentle grandfather, imparting tales of life, love and loss.
Wagner’s adventures in lo-fi alt country, swampy acoustic soul and glorious up-tempo anti-pop have attracted a legion of keen ears since the release of 2001’s Is A Woman. Joined on stage by a seven strong band, tonight’s Gaiety show highlights his quest for diversity within the Lambchop sphere – most notably explored in the quiet, delicate ‘You Are The One’, the slow groove of ‘Low Ambition’, the meaty, roughed up ‘Up With People’ or the big, distorted, cacophonous crescendos of ‘Nothing Adventurous Please’, the latter proving Wagner’s still got the lung power to rival the Blind Boys Of Alabama.
Skillful arrangement also ensures that the music’s cosy intimacy does not become smothered in a sea of excessive instrumentation. Songs are given space to breathe, and sound untreated and in their natural state while the various instruments gracefully assemble themselves around the melody, draping themselves over it and cocooning it in layers of soft, hazy sounds – guitars laden with flangers and delay, trickling piano keys and gentle acoustics. If this is Wagner’s drug of choice, addiction is most certainly a pleasure.