Jordie Lane embraces the beauty of imperfection on Habitual

Nashville-based Australian singer-songwriter Jordie Lane is heading home for a national tour celebrating his new album Habitual, a raw, live-to-tape collection that trades studio perfection for spontaneity, human connection and the unpredictable magic of musicians playing together.

For Jordie Lane, making his latest album meant letting go of something he'd spent years chasing: perfection.

The Nashville-based Australian songwriter has built a career on thoughtful storytelling and carefully crafted folk-roots music, but his new record, Habitual, takes a deliberately different approach.

Recorded in just over three days, entirely on analogue tape, the album captures the sound of a band playing together in a room, complete with the rough edges, spontaneous moments and occasional imperfections that modern recording technology can so easily erase. And that was exactly the point.

Following the success of Tropical Depression, which debuted at No. 1 on the ARIA Country Albums Chart and reached the Top 40 on the US Americana chart, Lane wanted to challenge the way he approached making music.

To do it, he enlisted Nashville producer LOLLIES, whose work includes projects with Caroline Spence, Rachel Baiman and Laura Cortese. Her first order of business was to take away the safety net. ‘I’ve always loved getting lost in perfectionism, hours, days, months, years working on something. But with Habitual, LOLLIES was determined to shake me outta that,’ Lane explains.

Recording directly to two-inch, 16-track analogue tape meant there would be no endless editing, no polishing individual performances after the fact and no opportunity to disappear down the rabbit hole of getting everything just right.

‘Lollies said, “OK, you get three goes at each song, then we’re moving on.” No computer screens, no redoing vocals later. It was scary as hell, but it very quickly gave us a huge sense of relief.’ That sense of freedom runs throughout the record.

Blending country, rock and blues, Habitual explores the patterns people fall into, the choices they make and the ways those decisions can shape a life, sometimes without anyone quite realising it.

There are good habits, destructive habits and all the complicated territory in between, with Lane's characters moving through everything from everyday situations to more unpredictable journeys.

It's also a record about surrendering control, both in the stories being told and in the way the music itself was created.

Earlier singles ‘New Sun’, ‘Backseat Driver’ and ‘Mood Swing’ introduced the album's roots-rock energy, while focus track ‘Good For You’ reveals a more reflective side.

Built around a classic country-folk sound, with warm pedal steel and a melodic bass line, the song slows the pace to explore regret, self-sabotage and the difficulty of changing old behaviour.

Co-written with Clare Reynolds, ‘Good For You’ follows a narrator confronting his own mistakes while questioning whether he can become the person someone else deserves.

It's a fitting centrepiece for an album concerned with the things people do repeatedly, even when they know those choices might be holding them back.

The recording sessions brought together an accomplished group of Nashville musicians, including drummer Jason Burger, whose credits include Big Thief and Andrew Bird, pedal steel player Asa Brosius, guitarist Trevor Bahnson and bassist Elias Broxham.

Recorded and mixed by Drew Carroll at Nashville's The Bomb Shelter, a studio associated with artists including Alabama Shakes, Hurray for the Riff Raff and Margo Price, the album was mastered by Grammy Award-winning engineer Tim Smiley.

Rather than smoothing away the character of those performances, the production allows each musician's contribution to breathe. The result is an album that feels immediate and physical, where the interplay between instruments matters as much as the individual parts.

For Lane, the process also speaks to something beyond music.

In an increasingly digital world, where so much can be edited, automated and perfected, Habitual makes a case for the value of things that are unmistakably human. There's something refreshing about hearing musicians respond to one another in real time, knowing that what made it onto the record was a moment they actually shared.

It's an approach that feels particularly suited to Lane, whose reputation has been built as much on his live performances as his recordings.

Over more than a decade, he's taken his music to audiences across Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, sharing stages and touring with artists including Gotye, Billy Bragg, Cat Power, Old Crow Medicine Show, Ruthie Foster, The Moody Blues and The Waifs.

Now, he's bringing that experience home. Lane will return to Australia throughout November and December for a national tour celebrating Habitual, including appearances at Town Folk Fest in Castlemaine and Queenscliff Music Festival, alongside headline shows in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

The tour will also take him into regional communities across Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, with stops spanning the Mornington Peninsula, Archies Creek, Eldorado, the Northern Rivers and the Sunshine Coast.

For audiences, it's a chance to experience the songs in the kind of setting that helped bring them to life in the first place: musicians sharing a stage, responding to the moment and allowing the unexpected to become part of the performance.

And perhaps that's the real heart of Habitual.

For an artist who has spent years refining his craft, Lane has discovered that sometimes the most interesting thing you can do is stop trying to control every detail. Because the moments that make music memorable aren't always the ones that go exactly to plan.

Habitual is out now, featuring focus single ‘Good For You’. Jordie Lane's Australian homecoming tour takes place throughout November and December.