JORDIE LANE - SLEEPING PATTERNS

Co-produced by Jeff Lang and Tim Hall, Sleeping Patterns had been brewing in the subconscious of Jordie’s mind for nearly four years, and eventually came to fruition in the winter of 2008. Recorded in little more than five days, in the open warehouse space called Adelphia in Melbourne the album is storytelling at its rawest, gutsiest, and most fragile.

Featuring guest performances by prominent roots artists Ashley Davies, Jeff Lang, Laura Jean, Liz Stringer, Garrett Costogan and Stevie Hesketh, Sleeping Patterns moves between finger pickin’ ballads, western tunes, rockin’ blues and even the odd sea shanty.

With their trusty engineer Mick Wordley behind the console, Jeff and Tim’s approach as producers was to build a sonic landscape that hung around each song’s theme and in particular Jordie’s words always at the core.  Jeff’s subtle guitar arrangements weave in and out like a friendly ghost.  Particular standouts being the understated magic of his chime like harmonics on ‘Clearer You’ll See’ and 70’s synth-like string section on ‘Walking That Way’, created with feedback slide guitar finding frequencies dependent on his body movement in the room.  Not to mention his trademark reverse tape guitar solos that rip through the song.

Jordie writes and delivers the songs with such beautiful imagery and wisdom, it’s hard to believe that most of the tracks on Sleeping Patterns were written before he  had even turned 21. This is most evident in the travel diary track ‘War Rages On’.  Equipped with mallet drums, and a quirky juxtaposed brass arrangement, Jordie sings: “They ask did I ride a kangaroo to school? I said who told you that you silly boys? They said it was one of them Yankee fools”. It goes on to encounters with ‘ladyboys’ and watching “dogs fornicating in the main street of town, like street clowns putting on a show for the crowd that surrounds”.

Then there’s the industrial working man blues of ‘Dig Straight Through’, featuring Ashley Davies on drums and Jeff Lang on bowed electric guitar, which tells of a man who tries to escape his woes by digging to the other side of the world. And rockers ‘Fell Into Me’ and ‘John W Thistle’ with real live first take energy with Steve Hesketh (ex Jet) ripping through on Wurli and Hammond. But the album displays many soft touches also with ballads ‘The Day I Leave This Town’, ‘Clearer You’ll See’, but most notably the beautiful sentiment of the stripped bare ‘I Could Die Looking At You’.

Jordie has previously released two EPs Ill Communication (2005) and Lovers Ride (2006), and over the past few years he has become a much talked about up-and-comer by the press and punters alike. Much of this would be attributed to his tireless dedication to playing live shows and festivals, but also more recently his collaboration with Canadian songwriter Tracy McNeil under the guise Fireside Bellows, who are still receiving stunning accolades for the 2008 release

No Time To Die also available through Vitamin Records.