Jack Ladder & The Dreamlanders – Blue Poles
With his fifth album Blue Poles, Jack Ladder weaves together tragedy and comedy taking dark musings and melancholic melodies into a career high
At almost seven feet tall, Jack Ladder's physical presence is as towering as his baritone. Despite his sizeable stature, he's remained more of a background figure in Australia's music scene; with his fifth album Blue Poles, he crafts dark musings and melancholic melodies into a career high.
Opener Can't Stay boasts the rock swagger of fellow Australians Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on their 2008 release Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! Like Cave, Ladder also possesses a deeply resonant voice and a penchant for poignant poetry offset by dark humour. Susan is a morbidly romantic ballad that takes the perspective of a man killed in a car accident ('When the red brakes fail / Behind the semi-trailer / He was buried in the autumn sun') who beseeches his widow Susan to overdose on her medication in the hope of being reunited in death – 'Just mix the Vicodin with the Methadone / No more sad days on our own.'
From the sparse, languid White Flag to the industrial, Berlin-era Bowie funk of Tell It Like It Is (whose death Ladder cites as a major influence on his songwriting for this record), to the Leonard Cohen inspired Dates, Blue Poles weaves together tragedy and comedy to irresistible effect, making this Jack Ladder's most brilliant work to date.
Listen to: Susan, Tell It Like It Is, Can't Stay