Endless Recordings
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I’m three for three writing about Australians so far this month. I feel like I need to maintain this streak… luckily I woke up this morning wanting to take Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Lloyd Cole and Leonard Cohen and shake them up in a jar, but Jack Ladder & The Dreamlanders beat me to it. Sydney, Australia’s Jack Ladder (Tim Rogers IRL) has teamed up with his band the Dreamlanders, which contain a name or two you might also recognize (Kirin J Callinan, Donny Benét, and Laurence Pike) for his sixth record, Hijack!, which contains a deeply personal, dark, funny Christmas track – the self-explanatory “Xmas in Rehab.” Having checked himself into rehab back in January of 2020, the song contains small vignettes of his experience there, with touching, funny, sad, hopeful scenes all colored by these mundane, yet honest and emotionally powerful details, that draw you in. The door is open to us all to become better, healthier, happier people – Jack/Tim just opened up his door for us to all to see, and it was truly beautiful.
Bottom Line: Jack Ladder’s baritone guides us through one of the most beautiful, honest Christmas songs of the year.
Christmas Underground 