Shady Lane – Built Guilt (Rice Is Nice)

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I have a long held and fairly public soft spot for Shady Lane. So, of course, I was delighted to be offered the task of reviewing album number two – Built Guilt. The album is a definite departure from the largely solo work of Jordy Lane’s previous output. The most obvious difference is, of course, the live instrumentation. This is the first work completely recorded since bringing in drummer, Pete Avard, bassist Conrad Richters and keyboardist Sarah Jullienne. It leads to less linear dynamics, more surprising u-turns and, naturally, a more rock focused sound. While the band have spent some time performing live now, there are, however, still telltale signs that Lane is in control here.

My first response on listening was of slight disappointment. It isn’t actually until track three, ‘Gwimnoddles’ that Lane’s sublime voice is heard with anything approaching clarity. This disappointed me, as I really do love the sound of his voice singing. What Built Guilt opens with, however, is a heavily processed Lane, woozily intoning under ‘Easybeast’s lethargic psychedelia, highly reminiscent of the other band Lane moonlights in as guitarist, Richard In Your Mind (and for whom Richters also plays bass). The following ‘Convenient Face Hinge’ is almost perfect prime Custard (a personal favourite) as to be uncanny. Both are excellent, but not typical Shady Lane, which is what threw me. But Built Guilt throws up its own unique pleasures. Lane’s day job as a recording and mix engineer is clearly apparent. The production is consistently exploratory and, no matter whether it’s a Ludwig drumkit or cheap drum machine, classic analogue synth or grainy field recording, given space to breathe in the mix. And he really mixes sound sources up while maintaining consistency. ‘Fluff ‘n’ Stuff’ features a sublime synth arpeggio driving its lo-fi retro cheesiness, which is then followed, and countered, by ‘What Future’, a minimal, plaintive piece of clean electric guitar yearning. The two pieces are held together by an underlying melancholy which pervades the entire album.

This melancholy comes into focus in Lane’s lyrics. As with the debut, Here We Go Down The Black Hole, most of his words seem to relate to spiritual searching in some form or other. Genuine questions are raised, rather than any form of dogmatic rhetoric, but a sense of dissatisfaction with any trite responses is ever present, creating the conflicted sense of melancholy. Best shown in lead single, ‘Dumb Hope’, a light, spritely pop descends into a slightly darker maze of drums and syllables “Slowly, slowly growing over/the cozy patch I call my home”, the metaphor then exploding into the chorus cries of “Dumb hope/dumb hope”. Nothing is didactic, the lyrics are constantly poetic – another layer of song craft rarely achieved in contemporary pop. By allowing sincerity and doubt to bleed into his songs in such a manner, Lane’s creations take on a universality, allowing the listener into even the most personal of soul searchings.

I’ve been living with this album for quite a while now and am loving it more as time passes. It functions beautifully on every level – sonically, lyrically, compositionally, flowing as an album as a complete work. Those difficulties and disappointments I started with have gradually made way as the album’s depths and intricacies have unfolded themselves. I remain a true believer.

Adrian Elmer

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About Author

Adrian Elmer is a visual artist, graphic designer, label owner, musician, footballer, subbuteo nerd and art teacher, who also loves listening to music. He prefers his own biases to be evident in his review writing because, let's face it, he can't really be objective.

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