Maybe it’s because he’s a ‘Stralian?
Tropical Depression is released on August 23rd. It’s the most fascinating album to cross my (metaphorical) turntable this year.
Jordie Lane is from Melbourne – but is acclaimed for his Americana music; his website shows him looking daft with diving mask and snorkel – but he’s good enough to have played Gram Parsons in the play ‘Grievous Angel’. There is light-heartedness in some of the lyrics and tunes on this album but he’s toured with a range of international stars and this album was recorded in Nashville with Grammy nominated producer, engineer and instrumentalist Jon Estes.
Tropical Depression sits broadly in the Americana genre. The album opens with “Barking at the back door … Mama’s in the bathroom … Been looking for a new job” but it the lyrics move into something more like an americana-ish ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’. Musically, it’s got a vibe – which is not an expression often used about country/americana. Lyrically, it’s simultaneously both deadpan serious and comically amusing, “I’ve gotta get back out there, back on the scene / get my name in lights / my face in magazines / I’ll pay a publicist everything I’ve got / It’ll be so damned beautiful / Get me on some underground Norwegian blog”.
Tropical Depression, then, sits broadly in the Americana genre but there are aspects which make it the most fascinating album to cross my turntable…
The second track, ‘Biscuit House’ touches on a country steel sound … to a lyric “you ain’t no gun-slinger baby, you’re a hipster eating gravy off a biscuit in a Nashville house”. This is an album and performance to hook a listener in. The video of ‘Changing Weather’ below has the same balance – the cut-off ending is on the album as well as the video, a nod to the seriousness of climate change among the lightness of the tune.
‘Empty Room’ could be an arrangement and vocal delivery from classic sixties country crooning, but somehow it’s a little more than that; ‘Different Words’ is a slightly unexpected tempo; ‘Friends’ is so catchy it should be a single at some point; ‘Blame Me If You Want To’ has a strong lyric against some nicely delicate picking which develops into a fuller arrangement as it pursues its emotional journey; ‘It Might Take Our Whole Lives’ is another winning single in the waiting; ‘Internal Dialogue’ rolls along on a playful tune; ‘New Normal’ is a rock ballad reminiscent of late-period Lennon.
The album closes with ‘Been Lucky’. It’s a catchy song – and it’s also a reflection on the luck, or not, of gambling / scratch cards as a life metaphor – “I never knew how to scratch this surface away” – about pain, luck, fear, confidence. Like the rest of the album, it’s also just a good song to listen to / join in with.
Pull all this together, and Tropical Depression feels like an important development of country / americana themes. Maybe it’s because he’s an Australian that he can take the core music and move it to the edges of the genre?
Dunno – but it’s well worth a listen or three.
Lane’s website has details of a tour, currently in Australia and then in America from late September.
Mike Wistow
Artist’s website: https://www.jordielane.com/home
‘Biscuit House’ – official video:
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