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LambSoftly
Lamb's core members were Barlow and Rhodes, although the band subsequently expanded to include bassist Jon Thorne, Icelandic guitarist Oddur Mar Runnarson, and Danish drummer Nikolaj Bjerre. London-based string trio Chi 2 Strings and trumpet player Kevin Davy were frequent guest musicians. They released their first album, the self-titled Lamb in September 1996, and followed this up with another three albums and a cache of singles over the next eight years, culminating in the release of a greatest hits album, Best Kept Secrets, in June 2004. While they seemed destined for stardom, it seemed to evade them and during the early 2000s they lost momentum and played live only sporadically. Still, a 2004 tour produced memorable shows, according to the British press. Lamb performed what was billed as their final live appearance at the Paradiso in Amsterdam in September 2004. Their 2003 album Between Darkness and Wonder proved to be their last studio album; the duo had always been "combustible," and both went solo. Rhodes left the music world briefly for a commune, and in 2006 released her first solo album. Although getting their start in Manchester, Lamb are more commonly associated with the Bristol-based trip hop sound that was popular during the 1990s. Aside from trip hop, their musical style is a distinctive mixture of jazz, dub, breaks and drum and bass, with a strong vocal element and, in their later works especially, some acoustic influences. While they were a hit phenomenon in the UK, they found limited success in other parts of the world, despite securing distribution. Portugal was an exception, however; the band achieved crossover success there, including one major number one hit with "Gabriel," the lead single from 2001's What Sound. The band produces experimental work with a distinctive production style, which includes passionate lyrical delivery. Their artistic videos draw on influences ranging from Cyberpunk through George Lucas' THX 1138 to Zen Buddhism. By far their best-known track to date is "Górecki",
from their eponymous debut album. The song is inspired by Henryk
Górecki's Third Symphony, the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. Part
of the lyrics to "Górecki" were used by Baz Luhrmann for some of Satine's lines in Moulin Rouge!. The song
was used in an advertisement for Guinness and an advertisement
for the Tomb Raider: Underworld video game. It was also featured
on the soundtrack of the 1998 Hollywood film "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer". The 2004 DVD The Fall & Rise of the Fools Ark, a roadmovie by Dutch duo Dadara and Jesse for which Lamb
provided the music, is an animated roadmovie in the style of Monty
Python and Yellow Submarine. During the band's hiatus, both were working on
a variety of solo projects. Rhodes released her debut solo album
Beloved One on her own label Infinite Bloom in 2006. This was followed
by Bloom in 2008 and One Good Thing in 2010. In February 2009, the organisers of The Big Chill music festival announced that Lamb would be re-forming to perform at the August 2009 event.[4] The band subsequently announced two further appearances, at Cactus Festival and Beautiful Days Festival, and also played the Glastonbury festival and made appearances at festivals in Porto, Portugal and Prague, Czech Republic, among others. At the time, no announcement was made as to whether the band would be releasing new material, or whether the festival tour was going to be a one-off. Later in 2009, the band announced concert dates for 2010 as well. During one of those shows, on 3 January 2010 at The Tivoli in Brisbane Australia (the 32nd gig out of an initially planned 7), Andy Barlow stated that it would be their "last gig ever, but who knows". Barlow later followed up on Lambs Facebook fan page on 7 January, "I have a strong feeling that there will be more Lamb shows, It doesn't seem like it has reached its finale just yet".[5] In December 2010, the band sent another e-mail to fans, announcing the recording of their fifth album, to be titled 5. A selection of songs from the album were previewed at Playground Weekender music festival near Sydney, Australia on 20 February, 2011. A special edition of the album, hand-numbered and limited to 2800 copies, could be pre-ordered through Lamb's website and was shipped to fans in May 2011, followed by the commercial release of the standard edition on 9 June in the UK. Other European countries saw slightly later release dates. The band started a European tour to promote the
new album on May 19 in Kiev, and are scheduled to play further
concerts - including festival appearances - throughout the summer
of 2011. 1996 Lamb (Fontana Records) [edit] Compilation albums 2004 Back to Mine: The Voodoo Sessions (DMC Records) [edit] Live albums 2011 Live at Koko (Strata Music) [edit] Singles 1996 "Cotton Wool" [edit] from Fear of Fours 1999 "B Line" [edit] from What Sound 2001 "Gabriel" Portugal #1 2002 "Sweet" [edit] from Between Darkness and Wonder 2004 "Wonder" [edit] from 5 2011 "Build a Fire" [edit] DVDs 2004 The Fall & Rise
of the Fools Ark (with Dadara and Jesse)
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