Irish alt-country artist Podge Lane begins an exciting new chapter with "Ebb And Flow And The Great Unknown," his fifth record and first for Anthem Vinyl. Based in New York, Lane gives the album an unusually intimate foundation, resisting the temptation to recreate the recordings in a proper studio and instead keeping them in a makeshift studio inside an old fishing shed. What starts as a collection of demos becomes the finished record, holding the openness and immediacy of those first performances.
"Ebb And Flow And The Great Unknown" finds its identity in simplicity over eight songs and 29 minutes. Lane's vocals are weathered, backed by harmonica and twanging acoustic guitar in a stripped-back setting that puts the songwriting and atmosphere firmly in the spotlight. The opening song, "Rising Tide," establishes the album's recurring relationship with the sea, while "The Dregs" and "The Coast" uphold the record's earthy, contemplative nature.
"10/10 Bleed Out Spot" is another striking song that adds to the album's unfolding sequence, while "God Amongst The Waves" pulls the record further into the water and the vastness hinted at in its title. "The Sea!" keeps that picture front and center before "The Great Northern Diver" offers another memorable reference point in the journey.
The album closes with "Sea of Crowded Faces," capping a tight eight-track passage constructed from stories that came too fast to be remade. Rather than smoothing over the rough edges of those early recordings, Lane preserves their immediacy. That decision gives "Ebb And Flow And The Great Unknown" its defining character, a record defined by instinct, atmosphere and the unfiltered presence of its creator.This fifth album for Podge Lane is a surrender to openness, letting fleeting moments have the last word, and giving the album an unmistakably personal space in the ever-expanding alt-country canon.
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