LaMP - ONE OF US [180G] LP

Interstate jammers LaMP return with their second studio collection — One Of Us. Featuring Vermont-based Russ Lawton (drums) and Ray Paczkowski (Hammond organ, Hohner Clavinet, Wurlitzer electric piano), alongside Brooklynite Scott Metzger (guitar), the group distills singular, road-honed improv instincts into taut, instrumental epics.

One Of Us, which consists of 10 tracks packed into 35-minutes of kaleidoscopic interplay and club-shifting grooves, is the band’s first studio outing since their self-titled debut, released during 2020, and follow’s last year’s double-dose Live At Nectar’s, which was sourced from two nights at the storied Burlington, VT institution where the band was born.

“If there is a theme to this record, it might be ‘three of us,’” Paczkowski says. “We’re all writers in the sense of courting some kind of inspiration, a melody, a rhythm, a vibe; feeling some kind of spark and bringing it to the band. The goal was to get a fire going.”

While each of the players has extensive experience with other gigs — Lawton and Paczkowski with the Trey Anastasio Band and Soule Monde, and Metzger through projects such as Joe Russo’s Almost Dead — LaMP has hewed its own path.Opener “Cosmo,” — the longest cut here, at six minutes — sets the stage with a slow, smoky build which sounds like the guys warming up their gear in a shuttered club, before dropping into a propulsive groove. Paczkowski and Metzger try to out-riff each other while Lawton pushes the band deeper with his crackling beat. The title track “One Of Us” continues to ride this long, cresting wave of funk before a Lawton drum solo signals a spiraling entry into a psychedelic wormhole.

“Nice Girl (Walks Loud)” and “Jasper’s World” showcase a muscular Zeppelin stomp, steamed into a humid shuffle that will undoubtedly rattle dance floors in the live setting.

The backend of the record settles into a stately, groove, highlighted by the blue-hour strut of “Ulterior Motives” and the closer “Clipse O,” where Metzger’s fluid lines skitter and dance alongside Paczkowski’s vibrant keys and Lawton’s inexhaustible beat.

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UPC: 020286245346
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