The godfather of Australiana
SINGER, songwriter and virtuoso guitarist Jeff Lang left Peel's Centenary Centre as he arrived on Saturday - trailing clouds of glory.
Australian Lang, whose solo career to date has seen him heaped with awards and critical acclaim, instantly acquired a Manx fan base when he first played here last August.
Last weekend, accompanied once more by bassist Grant Cummerford, he showed what spells can be woven by just two men and three guitars.
First, however, the audience was treated to two helpings of local support.
Seven-strong outfit Rhysical Pheck managed to sound double that number, their lush, woozy folkadelia swelling from intimate to epic within the space of a song.
Beguiling stuff, and notable for providing one of only two occasions when a sruti drone box has graced the Centenary stage (the other being the last time Rhysical Pheck appeared, in support of David Allen).
One-woman show Clara Barker offered a simpler but no less appealing prospect.
Despite her self-professed nerves, her open-hearted odes to love, writer's block and never growing up won the audience over.
After the interval, the main act took to the stage in suits only a mite less sharp than Jeff Lang's lyrical observations.
The Melbourne-born talent has won countless plaudits for his breathtaking string skills and, as he switched between his Churchill acoustic and lap steel guitars, there was plenty of opportunity to marvel.
Were this merely a matter of pyrotechnics, applause would soon ring hollow.
Lang, however, marries technical brilliance to emotional expression, whether playing like a demon to unleash the dramatic crescendo of a story or using economy to heartbreaking effect.
If Lang has a flaw, it's that his embarrassment of riches could lead to one portion of his wealth being neglected.
Guitars aside, he has another fine instrument in his voice – strong, keening, conversational, a great folk voice – and is also a masterful storyteller.
He introduces By Face Not Name as a waltz, written from a woman's perspective.
No-one is expecting the devastating small-town tale which follows, of a pregnant woman faced with the decision of whether or not to keep her rapist's baby.
It's harrowing and beautiful, and could have been written in any century.
Driven by the brilliant interplay between Lang and Cummerford, the set moves on, through 'carnal love songs' to fearsome drinking shanties, all of which sound timeless and uniquely Jeff Lang.
His style is on first name terms with roots, blues and the more gothic elements of Americana (a ferocious encore cover of Bonnie Prince Billy's I See a Darkness fits like a glove) but Lang is very much his own man.
The godfather, perhaps, of Australiana.
Given the esteem in which Lang is held internationally by both fellow artists and critics, we were fortunate indeed to have him return to our shores for his 'Half Seas Over' tour.
As Saturday night also marked the 'Twenty-First' birthday of Jonno Gollow, and JonnoPromotions has been responsible for both Lang and Cummerford shows, I would heartily recommend any future birthday parties where Jeff Lang tops the bill.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Isle of Man
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Heavy showers
Temperature: 5 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 30 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 6 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: West
