First Impressions: Multiple Dead Ends by Podge Lane

Time fades away during the musings of Irish alt.country singer-songwriter Podge Lane. His high lonesome vocals rise, falter and even fray while he faces off with the figurative demons that haunt many of us, especially those related to this thing called “getting old.” Though some influences may well be secondhand, the songs conjure such spectres of the 1960s and ‘70s as the Band, Beatles and Buffalo Springfield. That said, the music remains thoroughly modern; the eclectic mix veers from acoustic to electric and includes ample amounts of humor.

Lane, who hails from Cork, has apparently worried about turning 40 forever and a day. The press kit includes this quote: “As someone who used to go into my parents room at 5 or 6 because I was afraid of turning 40, the future can be scary. So I tried to detail my feelings of this fear of aging through a winding narrative that never really ends, cause I guess there is no end.” True, dat. As Neil Young once sang, “You can’t be 20 on Sugar Mountain, though you’re thinking that you’re leaving there too soon.” But 20 becomes 30, 30 begets 40, and 40…well, by then, many are embracing the George Bernard Shaw quote “youth is wasted on the young” as if it’s true. (Newsflash: It’s not.) 

Multiple Dead Ends opens with “Life Is a Song (Hum Along)” and closes with “Life Was a Song (Scream Along).” They’re bookends to a selection of songs that mine anxiety and fear but never give in to either. One highlight is “My House,” which speaks to how apprehension hangs out like an unwelcome houseguest who ignores every overt hint that he should leave. It’s never late in the evening for such pests, is it?

“Down” is a rustic romp that finds Lane voicing his dismay to the interloper, while “The Little Things” echoes the Beatles’ “Let It Be” with its opening plunks of a piano. Paul McCartney, in his hour of darkness, found solace in Mother Mary, of course, while Lane finds the same in the little things—from poorly written letters to family reunions to rural drives. It’s a wonderful song accented by a brief, George Harrison-like guitar break near its end.

“This Is Not What I Was Promised,” on the other hand, is a rocking dispatch from said darkness, questioning the claims made—by government, parents, teachers and even ourselves—for what our futures would hold. Who warned us of the endless bills, dead-end jobs and panic attacks? “Phobophobia” is another stab of freneticism set to song, with Lane keeping his tongue firmly in cheek while singing about his phobia of phobias; that it’s accented by a ragged harmonica solo only makes it that much better. Both songs, and others here, remind me of Time Fades Away-era Neil Young.

As impressive, despite the songs sounding like they were recorded live in a studio by Lane and his version of the Stray Gators, it’s all him. The Bandcamp page credits him with “Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Resonator, Slide, 12 String, Lap Steel, Banjo, Mandolin, Bass, Synths, Assorted Angst, Keyboard, Organ, Piano, Percussion, Radio Frequencies, Cowbell (Yes Cowbell), Drums, Sample Pad, Harmonica, And An Overwhelming Feeling Of Something Going Wrong.”

I’d hoped to weave in a Bob Dylan lyric by this point in the review, but will settle for an allusion to one instead: Multiple Dead Ends should be subtitled “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Aging).” It’s a howl in the wind that’s sure to resonate with any- and everyone who enjoys heady themes matched to (mostly) rollicking arrangements and sly humor. Highly recommended.