Record Reviews
Blood Thinner
By Doug Wallen
Jordie Lane is a talented and accomplished songwriter, but his earnestness gets the better of him on second album 'Blood Thinner', writes DOUG WALLEN.
[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.] To make a record, Australian bands often make a pilgrimage. Whether it’s My Disco heading to Steve Albini’s Chicago studio or the Grates setting up in the musical utopia of Brooklyn, it’s not uncommon to seek out one’s inspiration in a literal manner. To plug directly into the source, as it were. And so for his second album, Jordie Lane went to California, where he committed songs directly to four-track in an ode to Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska and – more pointedly – took up residence in the very room of the Joshua Tree Inn where Gram Parsons shed this mortal coil.
Again, it’s more literal than simply being influenced by either of those songwriters. Or simply covering some of their songs, although Lane does tackle Parson’s ‘I Just Can’t Take It Anymore’ with obvious love here. But for the most part he’s chasing ghosts, trailing the American folk tradition as he strips things back from his guest-studded debut Sleep Patterns. Between said hotel room and a California basement and garage, he creates makeshift percussion, sings his own back-up some, and plays nearly every instrument we hear. In the background hovers LA producer Tom Biller (Beck, Kanye West), who co-produced, mixed and played a bit of snare drum.
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] 01 Diamond Ring (from Blood Thinner) by jordielane
Some of this – especially the hotel room – may seem like a stunt, but Lane is earnest in everything he does. That was clear on Sleep Patterns and remains so here. Still early in his career, Lane embraces things he may not know are cliches just yet: this album’s liner notes are modelled on a classic composition book, while the songs are divided into two sides. And Lane is not often seen without a hat perched on his head in the same fashion as so many other folk-reviving troubadours. There’s also rain and thunder captured on the interlude ‘Room 8’, and another song opens with background chatter. All of which is simply Lane feeling his way around the record, but it does him no favours to include touches that have long been done to death.
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] 07 Old Time Spell (from Blood Thinner) by jordielane
What about the songs? They’re well crafted and resonant, looking to the above heroes while finding their own story to share. Lane knows how to paint a scene in his lyrics without weakening his emotional connection to the song. ‘Not From Round Here’ explores his self-imposed dislocation in plain language amid quiet, layered guitar. This is a very quiet record all around, with fingers audibly brushing across frets on ‘Water’s Clear Here Dear’ and Lane reducing his pure voice to a bedside drawl on ‘Annabelle Marie’. All alone, he turns to a meditative quest within.
“Lane knows how to paint a scene in his lyrics without weakening his emotional connection to the song.”
Obviously, getting away from Australia was crucial for that. And Lane takes time to reflect on his temporary setting, describing a slippery slope to ruin in ‘Hollywood’s Got A Hold’ and the LA sun hanging like temptation in ‘Old Time Spell’. (“Can we ever really learn to stay away from fire?”) Lane tapped into specific locations on his first album, and here the Nebraska-informed ‘Feet Fall’ cites Tucson and Brooklyn over a backwards melody and phantom beats. But it’s most rewarding to hear him break out on his polite croon, from the rambled chorus of the banjo-threaded ‘Thin My Blood’ to the soft Springsteen howl capping the bluesier ‘On The Net Till Morn’.
Shadowed by organ and a three-person choir, Lane lets his guard down most strikingly on the closing gospel homage ‘I Sinned Today’. It’s more about doubt than salvation, and about how each generation has to make its own peace with this life. It gets at the learned-too-late wisdom of Gram Parsons better than any other song on Blood Thinner. And more importantly, it feels like the end of a long journey.
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