Album Review: Davey Lane - I'm Gonna Burn Out Bright

Davey Lane is the eternal fan.

You tend to imagine him sitting cross-legged on the lounge room floor, guitars at hand, vinyl and CD covers strewn about as he searches for that sound he knows is in there somewhere. Besides his day job in You Am I, his work in band guises like The Pictures and occasional EPs and experiments under his own name comes to full effect on this. He pulls together hints and echoes from early Pink Floyd prog through XTC, via some Beatles (naturally...) and even some '80s buzzy synths to make terrific pop songs that are absolutely his own.

Songs range from little classicist glories like Taurus All Apart and the layered harmonies of Bound To Break Me, to tangents like Fifteen Years, which starts as stately - if a little ragged - piano balladry, before heading off on wibbly-wobbly waves of spacey psychedelics. Then he hits you with the sincerity of This Is Hell… - honest and without artifice, there's regret at a relationship drifting apart while a cello has a quiet sob across the room.

If you revel in the history of pop music, you'll love this record.