The Brag

Shady Lane
After The Black Hole
By Benjamin Cooper

Highly involved discussions about cleaning foodstuffs off puppets occur all too infrequently in this job. Jordy Lane, fuzzy-haired chap and main dude in Sydney’s Shady Lane, describes the removal of baked beans off toy fluff as being the least of his worries. “They scrub right off… Milk’s the really smelly one.” I voice some objections to the torture of his recently purchased puppet, but he throws his hands up in the air: “What can I say? I’m a vendor for the truth. Or a martyr for the truth. I haven’t decided.”

The puppet in question is called Bobby, and features in the film clip of ‘Convenient Face Hinge’, the second single off the band’s hard-wrought second album Built Guilt. The clip itself is so bizarre and utterly engrossing that it’s forgivable to watch it several times before switching your attention towards the actual song. There’s a compellingly dark and depraved lounge vibe as Bobby goes about his psyched-out adventures, encircled by Jordy’s guitar freaks and Pete Avard’s tightly packed drums. Perhaps most impressive is Jordy’s decision to shoot and edit the film clip on his own, having previously called on the expertise and assistance of friend, labelmate and sometime bandmate Brent Griffin (aka SPOD). Did Jordy have any concerns about going it alone this time? “Not really, no. You just kinda point and shoot,” he deadpans. “There is of course other stuff involved… There’s a bit of planning, and a bit of storyboard work before you start experimenting with the shots. The main concern was the puppet, but I got a really good one from the interwebs. I’ve been told this particular type is hard to find, so he’s rare and I’m lucky. Win/win.”

The success of Shady Lane’s music lies in its one-two punch: an innate gift for melody and lyrics, matched with languid, expansive production. The group’s 2009 debut album Here We Go, Down The Black Hole was packed with obtuse references to death, space and time, yet still had a number of quite obvious singles in the mix; Built Guilt, however, is a much more complete album, which eschews big singles in favour of a unified glut of weird pop. But all of that is news to Mr Lane. “If the new album seems more complete, it’s pretty accidental. I feel like the first album was definitely worked out more as a whole piece. This album has been very much a constant process, so I worked out what I was doing over time,” he reflects. “Then again, I have been fairly close to this whole process for a while. That’s the difficulty when you make an album – it ends up becoming a rather intense experience.”

The recording took place at his parents’ home, shortly after Jordy had returned from living the inner city artist life for some years. “I don’t know if it was the space, but it was quite a different process [this time],” he says. “Instead of programming beats I was demoing songs and then showing them to the band, and we’d all work them out. I guess I’m conscious of wanting us to be a live rock band rather than a programmed outfit, so instead of having to interpret from a electronic bedroom recording, we’re making stuff together more. It can be a bit creativity-destroying if there’s no team work going down.”

The final recordings were the culmination of a lengthy and difficult period for Jordy that stretched from the inner west to the suburbs, but in spite of the protracted pain it encompasses, the release of Built Guilt has meant closure for its creator – and crazy awesome tunes for the rest of us. “I think I was very unsure of myself when I started making the album,” Jordy muses. “When I moved back I certainly had more time to focus specifically on making the music, which definitely helped my brain. But at the same time I wasn’t in the best mindset, and I still found working very difficult at times. It was a much more painful process, totally, and I found it difficult every time I thought about it. There were moments when I wanted the album to not exist at all, but then I’d remember that I had to finish it off. I knew that if I didn’t do it, then that would suck the most. I had to get rid of this sense of dread. But you remember the negative times less and less, because they’re gone now. Now I love the album, it’s awesome!”

With an energised frontman/vendor for truth leading them, the album launch shows are certain to be charged and memorable affairs, particularly given the involvement of some old friends like Fishing and Megastick Fanfare. “We’re actually heading to Melbourne to play some shows with Richard In Your Mind, too. I’ve been told things might get a bit rowdy on the way down – we might even stop at Maccas on the way. I haven’t even told my mum yet!” And what kind of role can we expect Bobby the puppet to play in the southern sojourn? “Well, after the milk torture episode, he did spend a couple of weeks in my bag, and may have developed some kind of green thing near his mouth. So I’m not sure how healthy he is presently. I tried to clean it off, but I guess performance stuff is all smoke and mirrors, so he may show up anyway.”

What: Built Guilt is out now on Rice Is Nice
With: Fishing, Megastick Fanfare DJs
Where: Brighton Up Bar
When: Friday August 3