Black Coffee by Lachlan Bryan and The Wildes Is Strong, Hot And Invigorating
“I’ve been drinking coffee since I was eight years old. I found it counteracted the valium and always kept me focused. My grandfather taught me to drink it black as pitch and hot as hell, and I’ve pretty much lived my life by that philosophy” says Lachlan Bryan.
Since emerging in 2009 with The Wildes’ first LP Ballad of a Young Married Man, Australian Lachlan Bryan has earned a reputation as a serious songwriter with a unique gift for plunging the depths of despair and depravity, only to emerge with a heart full of hope and tongue placed firmly in cheek. He’s shared stages with legends such as Steve Earle and John Hiatt, and appeared at major festivals Down Under.
In 2012 Bryan released an acclaimed solo album Shadow of the Gun, and embarked on an epic twenty-three state tour across the USA. It was on this tour that he wrote most of what would become the new record, inspired by run-down hotels, roadside diners, desert landscapes and cheap, supermarket six-packs. The title track, for instance, was written at 9am on a napkin at a Mexican restaurant outside of Chicago.
Black Coffee was released late last year. I’ve lately been inclined toward the view that the best music often misleadingly seems the simplest to replicate. Of course it almost always isn’t. That’s one thing that strikes me about Black Coffee. It has a simple and singular finish and it hits the mark like an experienced archer. The other feature that I found somewhat intriguing when listening to the album is that I cannot recall that many “mainstream” Australian alt. country releases that are this good. Australia produces a large number (well above its per capita weight) of seriously good blues, rock, roots, folk, singer/songwriter albums but not a lot of the alt. country genre that Black Coffee has so brilliantly cornered (NB Melbourne-based Raised By Eagles is a serious exception). I hasten to add that I am not saying that it is stuck in the mud of one genre alone as it does in fact demonstrate a variety of influences. While it is not defined by the alt. country genre, it is a glowing Australian example of an album underpinned with world-weary alt. country sensibilities, done with precision.
Lachlan Bryan, with his own ragged group of Melbourne misfits The Wildes (and with carefully selected guests) have concocted a powerful collection of songs, with plenty of dark humour. Some of the photos on the CD are worthy of serious study – there’s a lot going on in those still shots.
The Wildes – aka Mat Duniam (drums), Shaun Ryan (bass) and Andy Wrigglesworth (guitar) – began playing together again after an hiatus and immediately embraced the new songs. On the album they are joined by Bill Chambers, Texan pedal-steel wizard Tommy Detamore, soul-diva Zoë Rinkel and banjo-extraordinaire Rod McCormack. Special mention should be made of Melody Pool, Bryan’s long time ‘surrogate sister’, who sings backing vocals on seven of the tracks and duets on the album-closer “Forty Days and Nights”.
Black Coffee is an alt.-country gem.
