Lambchop

If there’s one word to describe the sound of the first of two new records from this idiosyncratic Nashville-based, 13-member ensemble, it would be “French.” Lambchop sometimes gets categorized as an Americana band, but that pigeonholing only makes sense if you substitute Leonard Cohen for Hank Williams. Group singer-songwriter Kurt Wagner has more than a hint of Cohen and Serge Gainsbourg in his voice, and the lush orchestral backing, which evokes Cohen and Barry White, also is quite French. Some of these songs are from a 2003 San Francisco International Film Festival commission to write music to back the 1927 F.W. Murnau silent film Sunrise. (Odd side note: The instrumental “Timothy B. Schmidt” takes its name from local product Tim Schmit of Glad-Poco-Eagles fame; Wagner misspelled his name.)