Lambchop are set to return with a new album on February 20, 2012.

The latest from Kurt Wagner’s ensemble is entitled Mr M, and it will be released by City Slang on CD, vinyl, digital and limited CD+DVD.

“I was approached by [former Lambchop member] Mark Nevers with the idea of making another Lambchop record,” says Wagner. “He had a concept of a sound and a method that worked with the tone of my writing. His idea was a kind of ‘psycha-Sinatra’ sound, one that involved the arranging of strings and other sounds in a more open and yet complex way. It was a studio creation, not a type of recording based on band performance, and this was a radical approach for us. I felt Lambchop had one more good record in us, and this time I was going to do things as directly and true to my desires as possible.”

Mr M was recorded at Nevers’ Nashville Beech House studio, with Scott Martin (drums), Matt Swanson (bass), Ryan Norris (guitar, organ), Tony Crow (piano), William Tyler (guitar) and guests include Jonathan Marx [another ex-member of the band] and Cortney Tidwell. The strings were arranged by Peter Stopschinski and Mason Neely.

You can get a taster of the album at lambchop.net. The band will be in the UK for a handful of live dates in March:

1 March London Barbican
4 March Gateshead Sage
5 March Glasgow Oran Mor
6 March Manchester Cathedral
7 March Bristol Fleece

Mr M tracklist:
1. If Not I’ll Just Die
2. 2B2
3. Gone Tomorrow
4. Mr. Met
5. Gar
6. Nice Without Mercy
7. Buttons
8. The Good Life (is wasted)
9. Kind Of
10. Betty’s Overture
11. Never My Love