Jeff Lang - Everything Is Still (2001)

Another great Australian guitarist shows off his virtuosity “Victorian-born Jeff Lang’s modus operandi is a dazzling, potently emotional, style of acoustic blues – lots of bent notes and wailing bottleneck technique – which is very reminiscent of early Ry Cooder and Chris Whitley. If he’d been born in Galveston rather than Geelong he’d be a well-known and widely respected international figure by now.

In Australia there is a market for this music but it is just not big enough to sustain a career or ensure a decent living. So, like blues guitar virtuoso Dave Hole, Jeff Lang spends most of the time touring Europe and North America where he has built up a committed following. This is globalisation by necessity. Fortunately he is good enough to guarantee that anyone who sees and hears him becomes an instant fan.

This is music which hovers somewhere between back porch acoustic blues and, for want of a better term, Americana. Yet to describe Lang by narrow genre is to underestimate his particular talent. He knows how to take an acoustic guitar, a lap steel guitar and a dobro and turn them into highly individualistic instruments. He understands, with great sensitivity, the importance of light and shade and the subtle dynamics of a song. Thus when he sings “London” (the unquestioned highlight on this album) he starts with a suitably low key melancholia (perfect for a song about lost love and loneliness) and slowly the guitar, accompanied by some very tasteful drumming from Angus Diggs, builds and builds until the listener is literally showered with bright guitar notes from a spectacular and lightning-fast solo. This is Lang at his best. An emotional song backed by great guitar virtuosity.

Lang secret is simple. He writes good songs, his vocals are more than adequate and his guitar playing is mind-boggling. It does not matter whether he is singing in a slow moody mode (“The Point”, “Some Memories Never Die”), nudging towards the outer edges of down-home blues on “Everything Is Still” or singing so low key you could mistake him for a folkie (“Between the Lines”) or singing about Newcastle, Swansea and Belmont on “Trainwreck 49″, the end result is an album of songs deeply felt and perfectly complemented by great guitar playing. Lang knows exactly how to tease a range of emotions from his instrument.”~Bruce Elder – Sydney Morning Herald