“Podge Lane doesn’t need a big studio to tell a big story. On Ebb And Flow And The Great Unknown, a voice, a guitar and a harmonica are enough to make the sea feel close.”
There is something special about hearing a songwriter before everything has been cleaned up. Before the perfect take. Before every lyric has been checked and every instrument has been placed exactly where it should be. Ebb And Flow And The Great Unknown, the fifth album from Irish alt-country artist Podge Lane, has that feeling from beginning to end.
Recorded in an old fishing shed that was turned into a makeshift studio, these songs were never really supposed to become a finished album. They started as demos. Lane had plans to record them again properly, but listening to those first performances made him realise that something important was already there. So he kept them. You can hear that decision throughout the record. His weathered voice sits right beside the twang of the acoustic guitar and the rough pull of the harmonica. There is very little hiding behind the performances. “Rising Tide” gets things moving with a desperate harmonica sound that immediately brings the feeling of the coast into the room. “The Dregs” follows with the kind of plainspoken storytelling that feels like it could have been passed down over generations. There is no need for Lane to over-explain what he is singing about. He gives you the details and lets the story breathe. “The Coast” brings the focus closer to home, dealing with distance, change and the strain they can put on a relationship. Then “Bleed Out Spot” adds another layer to the record, keeping that stripped-back sound while allowing the emotions to become heavier.
The ocean is everywhere on this album, but it never feels like a gimmick. It is tied to Lane’s family, his memories and his Irish roots. “The Great Northern Diver” is particularly interesting because it comes from a story told by his grandfather, turning a bird into a character and giving the song the feeling of an old folk tale. “The Sea!” goes even further back, reworking an 18th-century poem by Barry Cornwall. What I like most is that Lane seems to have stopped worrying about whether these songs fit into the current music landscape. His own comments about algorithms, TikTok, production and where to put the chorus explain a lot. A visit to his grandparents gave him a chance to slow down, listen to their stories and simply write. That change in mindset is all over this album. “God Amongst The Waves” and “Sea Of Crowded Faces” feel especially personal, carrying a sense of release that gives the closing stretch of the record real weight. By the time the final song ends, you feel like you have spent 28 minutes sitting somewhere by the water, listening to someone tell you stories that matter to him. Ebb And Flow And The Great Unknown is not trying to be perfect. That is exactly why it works. The rough edges, unfinished moments and close-up performances make the album feel alive. Podge Lane has made a record about the sea, family, memory and finding meaning, but underneath all of that is something simpler: the value of slowing down and listening. In a world that constantly asks artists to make more noise, Lane has chosen to speak quietly. Somehow, that makes every word land harder.
Spotify, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X, website
English