Yeah, Lamb... You know when ‘What Sound’ came out I was an excited bunny. I’ve always loved Lamb, right since I bought the debut on impulse back on its release, on the strength of a few remix drops I heard in a couple of house sets and it blew my head off. Man, that record is just timeless. That opener ‘Lusty’... those chimes... then the package unfolds and you’re like "jesusss" the range, the spectrum, the detail – it’s a joy. So of course, a convert, I bought the second album, ‘Fear of Fours’, a few years later all excited like, and initially, the change in vocal style from Lou, towards a more stylised delivery, and the added depth and intensity to Andy’s programming was too much. It felt like a whirlpool of dark sound, the ambition and audacity was impressive but a little too full-on. It took about a year before I realised that ‘Fear of Fours’ eclipses Lamb’s debut; the emotional scales it charts, the lyrical shades, the sheer stupendous acoustic and production detail which defies repeated scrutiny and still returns to surprise you with a suddenly discovered double snare click or resonating bell chime – the album is a microcosmic universe of experiences. And although recorded while Lamb was on the point of self-destruct, ‘Fear of Fours’ stands as a staggering achievement in empathetic, seductive, deep sonics.
As such, Lamb had a hell of a lot to live up to with ‘What Sound’. I caught them at Glastonbury, in ‘99, tripping, with the weather warm and the stars out, and it was the most powerful gig I’ve yet seen, I believe. So when ‘What Sound’ came out I was absolutely all over it. Now, I can’t dis it too heavy... and besides it’s not as if they deserve to be lambasted for what they’ve come up with on ‘What Sound’, but, you know what, it is lacking.
There are certainly enough individual elements and moments on the record to suggest on a casual listen that Lamb have delivered another classic. The single, ‘Gabriel’ has a nice enough pulse and flow to it, ‘Sweet’ positively soars, and some of the instrumentation, particularly the bass, where Lamb has always excelled, is downright rude. But for some reason, it doesn’t feel like its enough. There are too many tracks which just pass you by, building on a sneaking suspicion that this might be something approaching Lamb by numbers in places. It’s hard to pinpoint, and I wouldn’t wanna speculate to deeply, but there are hints that the energy and enthusiasm for what they do has dwindled just a tad, which is fair enough, of course, but makes for a record much less infectious and sadly, a less rewarding listening experience, as the music appears less vital to the musicians. I hardly ever play ‘What Sound’ and usually skip to my favourite tracks.
I’m sure hoping they find whatever is missing in the material they are currently recording, because Lamb is easily one of the more interesting and what’s more, intelligent and uplifting, both in terms of acoustics and attitudes, electronic outfits equipped to surprise and amaze. They are also full of love, unlike almost any other band I can think of. ‘What Sound’ falls slightly short, perhaps a victim of the skill of the previous two releases, unable to carry out the promise and expectation of earlier accomplishment.
― Roger Fascist (Roger Fascist), Friday, 6 December 2002 11:36 (twenty-three years ago)
two years pass...