Jordie Lane - Sleeping Patterns (2009)

By Chris Wood

Jordie Lane is just one of those musical oddities. He cannot be explained easily using words.

The character that emerges from his music reads more than a few sentences. Listening to his contemplatively mellow tones, you are hit with the sound of a man further advanced in his musical journey than his age would otherwise have suggested.

At 25 years of age, he appears to have a firm grip on a style that takes others a lifetime to come to terms with.

It’s arguable that Sleeping Patterns is a much more cohesive work, with strong indicators that Jordie Lane has come along in leaps and bounds.

Not only has he progressed with his songwriting, he has also shown signs of improvement with his production. Compared to his other musical project Fireside Bellows, Lane’s debut solo effort is bigger on production values and heralds the onset of a much more personal journey.

Lane’s voice is a voice that commands respect. It has with it the solemnity of wisdom and experience, as well as the exuberance of youth. When you consider his age years it makes the overall journey of his music that much more compelling.

He succeeds where so many others of his ilk fail. He engages with the listener with such clarity.

In the folk genre the artist can become too inwardly focused and as a result, lose the audience in a sea of self-indulgent murkiness. With Lane’s overall lyrical dexterity, he is a natural teller of stories.

The audience can’t help but listen. He commands it.

It is Jordie Lane's willingness to experiment with light-hearted humour that also makes Sleeping Patterns and all-round success. Not limited to his dalliances with humour, he also experiments with other polarized areas of melody and verse, managing to straddle a delicate balance between heart-warming ballad and ball tearing madness with great effect.

After winning a Vic Rocks grant, he has managed to bolster his uniquely hearty sound with all manner of organs, fiddles and country associated madness. And the end result proves the money has been well invested.

The Publicans Daughter serves as a solemn warning to the protagonist. The War Rages On delves into the troubles of the forgotten often forgotten in Vietnam, while the soothing The Day I Leave This Town offers a brutally honest view of the uncertainty of maturation.

The most exciting and visceral experience on Sleeping Patterns is John W Thistle. Although it’s been done, it still remains a whole lot of fun. The strained vocals are reminiscent of early Dillon, while the Hammond organ offers nothing less than pure adrenalin for the listener.

The importance of Sleeping Patterns cannot be understated. It shows that with the right assistance, a talented artist is capable of amazing work when afforded the right opportunities. It’s with this assistance that Jordie Lane has had the means to create his vision with as much accuracy and clarity as possible.

Hopefully it is with Sleeping Patterns that a long and fruitful career for Lane is established. One gets the feeling that we certainly haven’t heard the last from him just yet.

RATING: 4 out of 5

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