As Earl Gray (aka Graeme Pillemer) said - it takes a lot of time to get a record out in this country. Although he first gained national coverage back on Triple J in late 2005 and has supported many top performers such as Gomez, Lior and Josh Pyke, it was not until last Thursday that we were treated to a live show and the release of his first album ‘Not for Sale’ here in Melbourne. From all appearances I’d say it was worth the wait. He’s had a little time to play these songs around and get them perfected, so the result is a pretty eclectic bag of blues/roots/soul/alt-country/rock fun for everyone.
Jordie Lane in support kicked the night off beautifully with his classic country style and a set list that really impressed. I always joke to my friends that if a band has a double bass, I’m pretty much sold, but when you’ve got a double bass and Liz Stringer on banjo and backing vocals, well it guaranteed that I was going to love it. From the opening words of his heartfelt, simple Sweet Somebody to the final notes of Died lookin’ at you I felt like I was on a journey somewhere between Hank Williams and Ryan Adams, somehow familiar and yet wonderfully new. His lyrics are fluid stories of life and speak of a maturity far older than his 23 years. Jeff Lang commented early this year that “Jordie Lane sounds like he’s absorbed the works of the great songwriters and is now able to speak with the same authority in his own music” which is precisely how it is. (Check our his myspace here)
After this old school country, laid back performance from Jordie, I was wondering how Earl Gray would approach the crowd to launch his very good, but quite different album ‘Not for Sale’. Pillemer however didn’t miss a beat - striding his way out and easing us in with a few songs from what he called his ‘hillbilly’ repertoire – just him and a guitar and one or two tunes as he joked “for girls who like really literal love songs”. Perhaps the nerves were still out as there were a few timing and word issues in these, but full props to him for moving on effortlessly and making these songs so enjoyable.
The rest of the boys from his band came on after this and the atmosphere immediately started to intensify with 4 more hours followed by a flawless performance of the title track which sounded eerily like an early David Gray live. As ‘the Earl’ himself said it was then time to get completely away from the country vibe and the mood was flipped on its head completely as he launched into How’m’igonna get you bak’gin - a beat heavy tune with tones of R&B which I can see being pretty infectious and popular, but is not really my thing. The music continued to be switched up with Earl going all over the place from the hip-hop inspired Beggin’ on your knees (mixed on the album by grammy winning mixing genius Russell Elevado at New York’s famed Electric Lady Studios) to the quiet and tender Katrina to the soulful Me and Rudy. As you may have gathered, Earl Gray is difficult to define and perhaps there is a bit lost with this musical rollercoaster, but whatever the style, the energy is there 100% and you know Pillemer is really enjoying himself. It’s good to see someone having so much fun and experimenting widely with his work and his band, and it is remarkably infectious live – the smallish band of onlookers at the Toff in Town were all tapping away in time and getting lost in the music, this is certainly not your standard singer-songwriter stuff. He ended the set with the guitar heavy old school rock of Bye Bye Baby (was that a Hendrix riff in there?) and left the crowd with smiles on their faces and a good night under their belt.
Check out Earl Gray's Not For Sale and Jordie Lane's Lover's Ride both out now.
