Today, alongside news of his band’s first shows since 2019, Kurt Wagner shares “So There,” the second single from Lambchop’s next album, The Bible, due September 30 in North America on Merge Records (City Slang for rest of world). It arrives with a computer-generated video directed by Isaac Gale, who also handled the striking visuals for “Police Dog Blues” which was released at The Bible’s announcement and has amassed nearly 100K views to date.

Here’s Gale in his own words on how he approached the “So There” visual:

I randomly rewatched the movie Total Recall recently. I was talking with technical artist / VFX / animator Joe Midthun about it the next day while we were working on this project, and he informed me that the X-ray scene in the film was the first instance of a motion capture suit and CGI being used together. But it didn’t really work. They had to finish the scene using hand rotoscoping instead.

I kind of feel like that’s what this video is. Our first idea fell through because we couldn’t get the motion capture suit to work (yet!). Sometimes the best way to learn a new software is to first learn how to break it. So, we decided to see what would happen if we simply flew a camera through Kurt’s head to see what goes on in there.

Here’s Wagner on his song:

“So There,” in my head, addresses the idea of showing up, being there for your friends and for things that we believe to be right and true. But also wondering if that alone will ever be enough. I was reflecting on this during the time I was immersed in the scorching Minneapolis summer of 2021. Stuck in traffic staring at a Grateful Dead bumper sticker, parked daily under a highway billboard sign with “Cloudy Forever“ sprayed on its pole. Flies in the vehicle, an underlying sense of dread on the streets, waiting for the sun to burn away the morning’s haze.

Lambchop will debut songs from The Bible and last year’s Showtunes at two special performances on September 23 & 24 in Minneapolis, kicking off the Walker Art Center’s 2022–23 season. Co-presented with Liquid Music (“Liquid Music melds genres and blows minds.” —Minnesota Public Radio), these performances feature a 16-piece ensemble that includes local and national heavyweights Andrew Broder (Fog), CJ Camerieri (Bon Iver, Carm), Blake Morgan (VOCES8), Cole Davis, and Bryan Nichols. Swirling together everything from turntables to grand piano to horns to a choir, this new work exemplifies the driving ethos of this unclassifiable band. Tickets go on sale this Thursday at 11am CT via the Walker’s website. In October, Lambchop will perform as a duo of Wagner and Broder in Carrboro, NC, at the Psychic Hotline Block Party.

Wagner hosted a recent episode of Bandcamp Weekly, DJing from his backyard and playing cuts from Swamp Dogg, Soul Glo, Dijon, and others as well as his own projects HeCTA and KORT.

Pre-order your copy of The Bible on CD or etched 2-LP (available on both limited-edition yellow & black marble Peak Vinyl or standard black) in the Merge store and participating independent record stores. In addition, Grimey’s in Nashville and Electric Fetus in Minneapolis will carry an exclusive vinyl pressing on “smog” (gray & white marble).

Lambchop in performance:

Sep 23 Minneapolis, MN – Walker Art Center
Sep 24 Minneapolis, MN – Walker Art Center
Oct 15 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle (Psychic Hotline Block Party)*
*duo performance with Andrew Broder