Lamb are an English

electronic music Electronic music is a Music genre, genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or electronics, circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromech ...

duo from

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, whose music is influenced by

trip hop Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with " downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic fusion of hip hop and electronica with slow temp ...

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

. The duo consist of producer Andy Barlow and singer-songwriter Lou Rhodes. They achieved commercial success with the hit singles " Górecki" and "Gabriel".

Biography

On the basis of three songs, Barlow and Rhodes signed a six-album deal with Mercury Records in 1995. They released their first album, the self-titled ''

Lamb Lamb or The Lamb may refer to: * A young sheep * Lamb and mutton, the meat of sheep Arts and media Film, television, and theatre * ''The Lamb'' (1915 film), a silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in his screen debut * ''The Lamb'' (1918 ...

'' 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. Lamb performed what was billed as their final live appearance at the Paradiso in Amsterdam in September 2004 and after their 2003 album ''

Between Darkness and Wonder ''Between Darkness and Wonder'' is Lamb's fourth album, released in 2003. Track listing All tracks were written by Andrew Barlow and Lou Rhodes (as "Lou Robinson"), except where noted. String arrangement In music, an arrangement is a ...

'' 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

, Lamb are more commonly associated with the

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

-based

sound that was popular during the 1990s. As well as trip hop, their musical style is a distinctive mixture of

, dub,

breakbeat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that tends to use drum breaks sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as hip hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat hardcore, and ...

, industrial and

, 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 Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

however was an exception - 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 Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian Futurism, futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of low-life, lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial in ...

through

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the ''Star Wars'' and '' Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chai ...

' ''

THX 1138 ''THX 1138'' is a 1971 American social science fiction, social science fiction film co-written and directed by George Lucas in his List of directorial debuts, directorial debut. Produced by Francis Ford Coppola and co-written by Walter Murch, th ...

'' to

Zen Buddhism Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

. By far their best-known track to date is " Górecki", from their eponymous debut album. The song is inspired by

Henryk Górecki Henryk Mikołaj Górecki ( , ; 6 December 1933 – 12 November 2010) was a Polish composer of contemporary classical music. According to critic Alex Ross, no recent classical composer has had as much commercial success as Górecki. He became a ...

's Third Symphony, the ''Symphony of Sorrowful Songs''. Part of the lyrics to "Górecki" were used by

Baz Luhrmann Mark Anthony Luhrmann (born 17 September 1962), known professionally as Baz Luhrmann, is an Australian film director, producer, writer and actor. With projects spanning film, television, opera, theatre, music and recording industries, he is re ...

for some of Satine's lines in ''

Moulin Rouge! ''Moulin Rouge!'' (, ) is a 2001 jukebox musical romantic drama film directed, co-produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. It follows a young English poet, Christian, who falls in love with the star of the Moulin Rouge, cabaret actress and cou ...

''. The song was used in an advertisement for

Guinness Guinness () is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in ...

and an advertisement for the '' Tomb Raider: Underworld'' video game. It was also featured on the soundtrack of the 1998 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 Dadara or Daniel Rozenberg (born 8 February 1969, Łódź, Poland) is a Dutch people, Dutch artist of Polish people, Polish ancestry known for his Flyer (pamphlet), flyers, paintings, album covers, statues and performance artwork. Son of renowned ...

and Jesse for which Lamb provided the music, is an animated roadmovie in the style of

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over fo ...

and '' Yellow Submarine''.

Reunion

During the band's hiatus, both were working on a variety of solo projects. Rhodes released her Mercury-nominated 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. Barlow worked on various projects including: "Hoof" (together with Oddur Runasson, among others, who also appeared on Rhodes' solo debut) and "Luna Seeds" with vocalist–songwriter Carrie Tree. He also produced the Fink album ''Distance and Time''. In 2011, Barlow released his first solo album as LOWB with debut album ''Leap and the Net will Appear'' issued as a limited released on Barlow's own label, Ear Parcel Recordings. 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. The band subsequently announced two further appearances, at

Cactus Festival A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Gr ...

and Beautiful Days Festival, and also played the

Glastonbury festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contempo ...

and made appearances at festivals in

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropo ...

and

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...

, 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 Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

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 Lamb's 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". 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 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. '5' was released on label Strata Music. In 2011, the band also released their first live album ''Live at Koko'' (Strata Music) as well as the long-awaited DVD ''Lamb Live at the Paradiso'' (Strata Music) recorded at the Paradiso, Amsterdam, in September 2004. The band started a European tour to promote the new album on 19 May in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

, and played further concerts and festivals throughout 2011 including a performance at London's prestigious

Somerset House Somerset House is a large Neoclassical complex situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadrangle was built on the site of a Tudor palace ( ...

. In January 2012 the band started a new European tour which concluded in Paris on 18 February. On 10 March 2014 Lamb's debut album ''Lamb'' was re-released on 180 gram green/black vinyl (for the first 1000 copies) with three bonus remixes. Later in 2014, the album '' What Sound'' is to be re-issued on vinyl with remixes.

''Backspace Unwind'' (2014)

The band's next album, ''Backspace Unwind'', was released on 13 October 2014 (Strata/Butler Records) in four formats. The first single, "We Fall in Love", released on 6 October 2014, was announced by Q Magazine on 8 September, and received an exclusive preview as its Track of the Day. The single also received the award for Best Chillout/Lounge Track at the International Dance Music Awards 2015. Previews of other songs from the album, including a live demo of "As Satellites Go By" were also released on the band's website and social media channels. For Record Store Day 2015, the band released a limited edition 10" red vinyl featuring two tracks previously unreleased on vinyl. Lamb undertook a UK, European, and Australian/New Zealand tour from October 2014 through 2015.

Lamb 21st Anniversary Tour

The band undertook a European tour in late 2017 to commemorate the 21st anniversary of the release of their first album, billed as "Twenty-One", which included a double-set concert at

Manchester Cathedral Manchester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George, in Manchester, England, is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Manchester, seat of the Bishop of Manchester and the c ...

which was recorded live in its entirety. All who attended the

concert were given a free copy of the double CD album, burned on the night and autographed by both band members, which bore no identifying details or information on the content beyond the band's logo. The tour concluded with an extra date at the historical GDR Funkhaus in Berlin.

''The Secret of Letting Go'' (2019)

The band's 7th studio album, The Secret of Letting Go, was written and recorded in the space of a year, split between their home-studio in England's

South Downs The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the ea ...

, and in India and Ibiza. Billed to be as experimental as previous albums, the title track, The Secret of Letting Go, was written at a time that the band decided they were splitting up.

Solo projects

Alongside touring, Rhodes and Barlow continued to work on solo projects. Rhodes has released four solo albums: the Mercury-nominated ''Beloved One'' (2006), ''Bloom'' (2007), ''One Good Thing'' (2010) and ''theyesandeye'' in 2016. In 2013 Barlow's debut solo album as LOWB, ''Leap and the Net Will Appear'' was re-released on a new label, Distiller Records, with additional tracks and new artwork. In May 2013 LOWB appeared live on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content ...

Dermot O'Leary Seán Dermot Fintan O'Leary Jr. (born 24 May 1973) is an English broadcaster who currently works for ITV and BBC Radio 2. His radio career began when he worked as a disc jockey at Essex Radio, but he is best known for being the presenter of ' ...

show and played a live band show at The Great Escape Festival in Brighton. Andy also continued to work as a producer, producing and co-writing ''Dismantle and Rebuild'' the debut album from Bristol band The Ramona Flowers. Most recently, he produced and mixed David Gray's album ''Mutineers'' (released June 2014), co-writing a number of tracks. Rhodes branched out too becoming a published author with children's picture book ''The Phlunk'' (2012

Strata Books Strata Entertainment Ltd is a British-based company established in 2010 trading as: Strata Music, Strata Books and Strataville. Strata Music Strata Music (UK) is a boutique artist management company, with associated record label and distribu ...

) illustrated by Tori Elliott. On 27 April 2014 signed, limited edition, pre-release copies of the follow-up ''The Phlunk's Worldwide Symphony'' went on sale at the band's store (official publication date 22 May 2014).

Members

Current members

* Andy Barlow - production, songwriting, keyboards, programming, percussion, bass, turntables (1996-2004, 2009–present) * Lou Rhodes - vocals, guitar, bass, songwriting, programming (1996-2004, 2009–present)

Current touring members

Jon Thorne Jon Thorne (born 12 February 1967) is an English double bassist, producer and composer. Career Thorne is self-taught and started playing at the age of 23. He has studied and played jazz for a number of years following and considers Danny Thom ...

- electric/acoustic bass (1996-2004, 2009–present) * Nikolaj Bjerre - drums (1996-2004, 2009–present) * Quinta - violin, viola (2017–present) * Danny Lohner - acoustic/electric guitar, effects, samples (2009–present) *

Kevin Davy Kevin G. Davy (born 29 October 1961, Nottingham, UK) is a British jazz trumpeter/flugelhorn player, composer, arranger and bandleader. He has recorded with and toured with Finley Quaye, Lamb, Adam F and Lemn Sissay's Secret Society. He has led t ...

- trumpet, flugelhorn, pocket trumpet (1996-2000, 2004, 2017–present)

Former touring members

* Oddur Runarsson - acoustic/electric guitar (1996-2004) * Pauline Kirke - cello (2004) * Liz Liew - violin (2004) * Sarah Liew - violin (2004)

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

* 2004 '' Best Kept Secrets: The Best of Lamb 1996-2004'' ( Universal) ** UK #111; N.B. This site displays 'uncompressed' UK chart peaks (no exclusions applied for singles dropping out of the top 75 with declining sales above a certain percentage threshold) below #75, so some peaks may be lower than those listed on the Official Charts site, which displays 'compressed' chart peaks for positions 76-100. AU #65, BEL #24 * 2005 ''Lamb Remixed'' (Mercury/Universal)

Live albums

* 2011 ''Live at Koko''

Strata In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as e ...

* 2012 ''Live at the Paradiso (2004)'' * 2017 ''Live at Manchester Cathedral''

Singles

from ''Lamb''

* 1996 "Cotton Wool" ** UK #76 * 1996 "Gold" ** UK #132 * 1996 "God Bless" ** UK #92 * 1997 " Górecki" ** UK #30

from ''Fear of Fours''

* 1999 "B Line" ** UK #52 * 1999 "All in Your Hands" ** UK #71 * 1999 "Softly"

from ''What Sound''

* 2001 "Gabriel" ** AU #95, PT #1 * 2002 "Sweet"

from ''Between Darkness and Wonder''

* 2004 "Wonder" ** UK #81

from ''5''

* 2011 "Build a Fire" * 2012 "Butterfly Effect"

from ''Backspace Unwind''

*2014 "We Fall in Love" *2015 "In Binary" *2015 "What Makes Us Human"

from ''The Secret of Letting Go''

*2017 "Illumina" *2019 "Armageddon Waits"

DVDs

* 2004 ''The Fall & Rise of the Fools Ark'' (with

and Jesse) * 2011 ''Live at the Paradiso'' (recorded 2004) Strata Music

References

External links

Official LAMB website

LAMB at BBC Music
(site defunct as of Feb 1, 2022) * *
Andy Barlow website

Lou Rhodes website

LOWB Facebook page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamb English electronic music duos Musical groups from Manchester Trip hop groups Male–female musical duos Musical groups established in 1996 Musical groups disestablished in 2004 1996 establishments in England