Irish singer-songwriter Podge Lane, who moved to New York early this year, released his latest single on Friday, “Let Me Ask You.” The bittersweet song finds him stepping into the shoes of someone who’s rooting out the whys of a wilted relationship: “Let me ask you,” he sings, “did you ever tell the truth? Let me ask you, did you hurt just like I do? And when I pass through your mind when you’re alone, is there things you want to know, cause I want to know.”
He explains in the press release, “The week I moved to New York, I was contacted to submit a song for a small film. It was about a breakup where one of the characters still has a lot of unresolved issues. And that’s not something I usually get to write about. So I threw myself head first into the world of breakup songs. Lots of indie films, tons of old records, and lots of Grey’s Anatomy.” By time he submitted the song, however, the producers had already gone in a different direction—as happens.
To borrow a lyric from Stephen Stills, “It’s no matter. No distance. It’s the ride.” The process of writing and recording about heartache resulted in a moving song built around guitar and piano that would have been at home in the movie Once, just about. Rebecca Dermody’s feathery harmonies are a wondrous counterpoint to Lane’s lead vocal, while a swell of drums, cello, and organ represent catharsis.
The Old Grey Cat 
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