by Chris Familton

Two years on from Jordie Lane’s well received second album Blood Thinner, the Melbournian returns from some overseas jaunts with a new EP of warm, bucolic folk and alt-country songs that further enhance his stock as a quality singer/songwriter.

Lane is one of those contemporary singers who sounds very much like the sum of his influences and here he most obviously channels M. Ward (Think I Always Thought) and Ryan Adams (Maybe Someday). What works in his favour is that his voice rings true, it conveys the stories and emotion of his songs with an honesty and believability and does so without leaning on any overdose of maudlin woe and sorrow.

The highlight of the EP is Dead of Light, a moody, spacious song built on finger-picked guitar, soft keyboard chords and casual, gently tumbling drums. Lane details themes of personal choice and mortality as the song builds and gathers momentum. It’s a dark and slightly unnerving track that demonstrates the songwriting tangents that Lane is able to explore as successfully as the straighter song forms.

Stylistically the EP is a cohesive and complementary set of songs so it’ll be interesting to see if he has released these as a precursor to a different feel or direction on his next full-length LP. In the meantime these five songs hit the mark perfectly. They sound balanced, complete and in an overcrowded market of folk and Americana-leaning acts this is exactly the type of quality release that deserves to rise to the top.

this review was first published on FasterLouder