This (Is What I Wanted To Tell You) (LP)

Not so long ago, Lambchop had a famously sprawling line-up, toting a dozen or so members around the world and into the studio to document elliptical country- soul mutations. But in recent years, the band has become a more personal vehicle for Kurt Wagner.

Anchored by him and framed by bassist Matt Swanson and Wagner's incorrigibly grinning foil, the pianist Tony Crow, the Lambchop of this decade has become more pliant and adaptable, opening itself to unexpected collaborators that give Wagner's thoughts and feelings the shape they need for each new album. That was the idea for 2012's engrossing Mr. M and 2016's staggering (and tragically timed, we should say here) FLOTUS, and it remains the approach for This (is what I wanted to tell you).

In the summer of 2017, Wagner left Nashville and crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains into North Carolina, where he met Matt McCaughan, who has spent the last decade drumming for the likes of Bon Iver and Hiss Golden Messenger. They became instant musical pen pals, with Wagner sending him a cappella takes of new song ideas and McCaughan dispatching long-form synthesiser pieces for inspiration. McCaughan eventually headed to Nashville, where, together, they put a band behind the songs, using pedal steel and piano and the harmonica of Nashville legend Charlie McCoy to colour in the spaces of these black-and-white sketches. That unexpected human connection-that is, rekindling an old friendship to make music in a way you never imagined-is a happy answer to the worries of This (is what I wanted to tell you), an album whose honesty pulls on your heart with the weight of absolute empathy. Stunning, beautiful, and surprising, This (is what I wanted to tell you) is a record you just need to hear.