Lambchop announce Punching the Clown and share Weakened

Lambchop announced Punching the Clown on May 6 and shared the single Weakened, opening a new chapter for Kurt Wagner’s long-running Nashville project.

The album is due August 21, with Merge handling North America and City Slang handling the rest of the world.

What makes the announcement compelling is the setting and the personnel. Wagner recorded the album at Justin Vernon’s April Base studio in Wisconsin, with Ryan Olson producing and Vernon playing banjo across the LP.

Punching the Clown is also described as being influenced by lined-out singing, a stark vocal tradition connected to Scottish and Appalachian gospel practices. That context gives Weakened a spiritual and communal quality without turning it into a museum piece.