Album Review/ Indie Folk : Podge Lane’s ‘Ebb and Flow and The Great Unknown’

Podge Lane is an Irish alt country artist with such a diverse melodic and instrumental pallet. Leading with curiosity and exploration, his tracks reflect moments of play, discovery, curiosity, and creativity. It’s not about the final song. For him, it’s about the journey that takes him there. That’s the philosophy and appeal that carries across his discography.

His latest release is the ‘Ebb and Flow and The Great Unknown’ album, a collection that philosophically and many a times poetically reflects on the journey of life. Of feeling, going through it all. Through all the rhythms of life and experiencing life as opposed to just surviving it. It’s a beautiful collection, so very special in the effort, emotion, and the listening experience of it. 

The tracks have a very coastal atmosphere. The feeling of expanse and a sense of water is always around. Like the ocean is hanging in the air. Even the song titles take you to the water. Making you think of the natural rhythm of tides, its ebb and flow and everything in between. 

In fact, the tracks in the album can be classified as an ebb or a flow track. The artist has constructed the tracks with stylistic characteristics and thematic features that so clearly defines one or the other. Of course, the great unknown is the spaces that these tracks take you to. His words, the power of his presentation and the weight of his artistic/ vocal presence. 

The track ‘Rising Tide’ opens the collection with its seamless and rolling lifts. It’s a high life, smooth and uplifting composition. The track is marked by long reels of melody, flying acoustics and a boundless vocal spirit. This is very clearly a flow track. A moment of lightness and freedom that lets you rise into the sky. Other tracks like this are ‘The Coast’, ‘The Great Northern Diver’, and ‘Sea of Crowded Faces’. In all these tracks, he skirts the line of deeper acoustics, but stays within the shallow waters of guitar. If he needs to, he reaches with his vocals, keeping the soundscape light and breezy. 

Next up, ‘Dregs’. A track in which he nicely altered between light and floating acoustics with deep and intense harmonica screams. It’s accentuating. The artist carries you to an important and thoughtful space with the vocals and then allows the harmonica to deepen that experience. A layered journey of sorts. There’s melancholy but also a strong and grounding wisdom that rounds the track and the theme quite well. You see this chemistry in other tracks like ‘10/10 Bleed Out on Spot’, ‘The Sea!’ and ‘God Amongst The Waves’. These tracks have such a powerful way of revealing the human experience. Through the friction, the lessons, the weight and the pain. 

Somewhere between these two, the great unknown forms, or rather a philosophy on how to move and hold the great unknown within our life starts to take shape. More than a musical experience, this is a very spiritual and philosophical experience. There are so many moments in the song that reveal the divinity that we hold within us and experience everyday. Listen Now! 

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The album is available for streaming on popular sites like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music! 

You can listen to ‘Ebb & Flow & The Great Unknown’ by Podge Lane here -