I LIVE A LOT IN MY HEAD THESE DAYS
Jeff Lang
(ABC/UNIVERSAL)
Jeff Lang’s title as ‘guitar virtuoso, dynamic songwriter and captivating live performer’ cannot be argued. Across his 14-album career, he’s more than proved his worth in all areas, and now comes another exponent of diversity and expression.
This record hints to more than a few genres, from the quirky ‘entrée’ to the album, Watch Me Go, through the lush tremolo guitar of the almost Van Morrison-esque People Will Break Your Heart, the sparse country shuffle of This City’s Not Your Hometown Anymore and the middle-eastern tinged Pull Of The Drift, Lang is en song with his guitar chops and pulling you into different worlds with each section, let alone each song.
No matter what’s happening musically, though, he seems to effortlessly lay his smooth, disarming vocal over the whole record, gluing it all together with his imprint. Highlights for me are the epic and cinematic Standing On The Shore and the funky Butler-esque rootsy skip of I Want To Run But My Legs Won’t Stand.
SIMON IMREI