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Jul 21, 2026 By Mark Redfern Photography by Ingo Petramer

Lambchop (the project of Kurt Wagner) are releasing a new album, Punching the Clown, on August 21 via Merge in the U.S. and City Slang in the rest of the world. Now they have shared its third single, “The New World Wave.” Listen below.

Lambchop previously shared the album’s first single, “Weakened,” which featured Justin Vernon of Bon Iver on banjo. It was one of our Songs of the Week. “Stella” was the album’s second single.

Ryan Olson (Poliça, Gayngs) produced the album, which features songs written by Wagner and the band’s Andrew Broder. It was recorded at Vernon’s April Base studio and he plays banjo throughout the album, which also features a six-part choir on all songs.

Wagner had this to say about the album in a press release:

“In early 2024 I heard a song on the radio on my way to get some gas. Just a minimal single chord strummed banjo and a small group of voices. It seemed perfect in the moment as the moment became perfect in itself. I never found out who it was, sounded kinda like early country gospel? In a time of searching I discovered a type of gospel singing known as lined out singing

which is said to have begun in the late 1800s in Scotland. It migrated to Appalachia and became an obscure root of American gospel, country.…a spontaneous call and response type of acapella singing led by a clerk with a chorus of singers revealing the raw beauty and power of the human voice with its unique varieties. Its unadorned simplicity gave weight to the words as they were sung. I wanted to make a record that emulated this kind of music.”

Punching the Clown follows 2022’s The Bible.

Read our The End interview with Lambchop.

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