Lambchop always has seemed to perplex reviewers in search of quick catch-alls to describe the 13-piece group's twisted output: "Nashville's strangest country band." Close. "Eccentric, unpigeonholeable." Yeah.

 Lambchop's sixth effort, Nixon, doesn't make classification any easier, aside from the fact that it's the farthest-reaching and best album of the band's eight-year recording career.

 Then again, with any album that uses America's greatest presidential pariah as a loose -- and we're talking loose -- basis for ruminations on life, love, disgrace and salvation, musical ambition goes without saying.

 Lambchop's past works have, in their own laid-back way, hinted at a mutual Tennesseean love for vintage orchestral country and Stax-Volt soul. With its rich, gilded arrangements, Nixon offers a new platform that allows singer-lyricist-guitarist Kurt Wagner to lead his band to new musical heights.

 Opening The Old Gold Shoe comes on warm, steady, delicate and warped -- it's, again, loosely written from the point of view of a stereo speaker. But, as Wagner stretches into a smoky falsetto for You Masculine You, Nashville Parent and The Distance From Her To There, you can almost picture Lambchop slipping out of their flannel and into silk. Amid shimmering vibraphones, droning baritone sax, there's even room for a gospel choir turn and couple of string-laden honey-drippers before a dark, surprise ending. Southern Gothic? More like Southern Classic. Reference points include Chet Atkins, Otis Redding, Nick Cave, Tindersticks.

Track Listing 1.The Old Gold Shoe
  02.Grumpus
  03.You Masculine You
  04.Up With People
  05.Nashville Parent
  06.What Else Could It Be?
  07.The Distance From Her To Three
  08.The Book I Haven't Read
  09.Petrified Forest
  10.Butcher Boy