(Wanderland/Eden)

Guitarist/singer Jack Sobel’s Atlanta group came into their own several LPs ago, and it’s been all audacious knockouts since. BSL release annual albums that are epic in scope yet full of beautiful post-punk power, and DSC surpasses even 2022’s Blind or 2021’s Hide in View. Their kinship with ’80s Incredibles The Chameleons goes beyond two Chams playing on older BSL LPs, or Sobel drumming for offshoot The Sun and the Moon at their only, 2008 U.S. gig: there’s  a post-Strange Times or  Heaven Up Here Bunnymen sweep and dark (not goth) textural tension in the standout, heck-of-an opener “The Covenant,” “The Sacrifice,” and the (Irish) Whipping-Boy-esque “Thorns.” These don’t dazzle in static-y shoegaze noise. They’re punchy, burble-bassed/based, guitar rockers that hold you in their grip, with glistening guitar effects effecting rainforest-atmospheric shadings, while the rock-solid rhythm section anchors pulsing gliders such as “Push Me Under” and “Under My Wings.” Haunting and ghostly-lovely, BSL are worth following where’er they go. (blackswanlane.com) Jack Rabid, The Big Take-Over Magazine

(Dead Souls Collide PRE-ORDER INFORMATION ENCLOSED)

Dead Souls Collide. Put your headphones on for this one. We just got word, the new album will be in the editor of The Big Take-Over magazine’s Top 40 albums of 2023. The dueling, multiple guitars panning back and forth should blow your mind after listening to many of the tracks. Dead Souls Collide, is the eleventh BLACK SWAN LANE album and I sincerely hope you love it as much as I do. 

I started writing and recording this one in February, wound up with 14 songs, and I decided on 11 of those tracks after listening to them and editing them every night for months. I also have a small and loyal group of friends that I regularly bounce ideas off of. Mostly for honest thoughts and opinions about the rough mixes. These ideas just started to flow from me in the studio after saying a year ago that I couldn’t imagine coming up with anything new, after Blind came out. 

Covenant. The single from the album, will be featured tonight, November 28th at midnight via a new BLACK SWAN LANE video on YouTube. Additionaly, clips of all the songs will be released tonight via HearNow and pre-orders of Dead Souls Collide will start at the same time.

Pre-orders:

The Physical CD (INCLUDES A SIGNED POSTCARD AND DSC STICKER)

Go to the BLACK SWAN LANE store at blackswanlane.com 

Add Dead Souls Collide to your cart. 

Select The Correct Shipping Option Or Your Order Will Be Refunded. 

SELECT USA, UK OR REST OF WORLD SHIPPING

There are no easy ways to ship any longer that are affordable, so realize we are paying more than ever for shipping, packaging, etc. A few short years ago, 1 CD shipped overseas was between 4 and 6 US dollars. It is now $17.98. The Good news is US shipping is only $5 and we’ve added a UK ONLY option with the help of the incredible Steve Clare and Didcot Town F.C. for only $7.00. The bad news is the rest of the world that regularly buys our music in countries like Germany, France, Netherlands, Portugal, etc will be charged the Rest Of World rate. I will understand if you decide just to stream it like most of the planet…If you want the lyrics, just shoot me an email at jackrichardsobel@gmail.com 

The Digital Pre-Release: December 5th. The first song, Covenant, will be available and the whole album will be available to pre-order on your favourite streaming platform. The rest of the album will fully come out on the official release date of December 12th and will downloaded automatically when you pre-order. 

Thank you in advance for your support and love and please remember to share, share, share!

Blue Always,

jack richard sobel 

BLACK SWAN LANE 

Cover art for Dead Souls Collide by Natalia Drepina. 

Dead Souls Collide, by the Atlanta, Georgia post punk, alternative band, Black Swan Lane, will officially be released by Eden Records Group and Wanderland Music Publishing / BMI on December 12th, 2023. The eleventh Black Swan Lane full length album contains 11 tracks and is the follow up to the band’s 2022 highly acclaimed album, Blind. 

Black Swan Lane has become known as the most Manchester, U.K. sounding band in the U.S., and having previously featured two original members of the Chameleons U.K. on four albums, only emphasizes the British post-punk and dark alternative sound. Dead Souls Collide was recorded and mixed over the course of ten months at Wanderland Studios USA, and it was mastered by Donn Aaron at Mixon Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. 

A 2023 favorite of The Big Take-Over magazine, Dead Souls Collide received a wonderful review by editor, Jack Rabid: “Full of beautiful post-punk power, DSC surpasses even 2022’s Blind and 2021’s Hide In View. There’s a post Strange Times or Heaven Up Here sweep and dark (not goth) textural tension in the stand out opener, “Covenant,” “The Sacrifice,” and the (Irish) Whipping Boy-esque “Thorns.” BSL are worth following where’er they go.”

Photographer, Natalia Drepina, created the cover artwork which goes perfectly with the theme of the album. The Photograph, “Soul Wanderings,” was a perfect choice for Dead Souls Collide. Natalia is a master of expression and her self portraits explore the dark, abstract explorations of the human condition. 

Art Director and talented photographer Robyn Elizabeth Abrams, also lent her voice on a couple of tracks on the new album including, “Forever Lost” and “Inhibitions,” the album’s ethereal finale. 

For additional information, contact blackswanlane@att.net, follow Black Swan Lane on facebook, or check our website for news, pre-order info and updates at blackswanlane.com  

            (Wanderland/Eden)

Atlanta guitarist/singer/leader Jack Sobel has metamorphosized from a talented songwriter into something of a simmering solo genius. This is his/their 10th LP the public has way too little awareness of, and recent efforts have proved particularly remarkable excursions into his deep end of the moody/broody-yet-beautiful post-punk pool. BSL’s bearings don’t change, as they spin another decidedly gray but not gloomy, glistening-guitar-centric, atmospheric mini-masterpiece, traversing between The Chameleons (two of whom appeared on previous BSL LPs) and Joy Division, with space for The Church, Into Paradise, and Straightjacket Fits’ Melt. “Fragile” is a new “Intrigue in Tangiers,” with a colossal “I’ve no power to fight” chorus chord progression; and the late Martin Hannett himself could hardly improve on “Can’t Keep Me Quiet.” That track and the also up-tempo “Wishful” are especially invigorating, but it’s the apprehensive lushness, again, that’s the indelible attraction that’ll get you again and again. “Just swear not to haunt me in my dreams,” he sings on “Case my Mind.” He’ll haunt ours instead. (blackswanlane.com) Jack Rabid(Editor)- The Big Take-Over Magazine

BLACK SWAN LANE  – REVENGE (UNMASTERED ACOUSTIC MIX)

There was recently a poll on facebook on which BLACK SWAN LANE songs you would like an acoustic mix of, so by popular demand, here you go. The poll was on a new BLACK SWAN LANE facebook fan page called BLACK SWAN LANE RELAX AND BREATHE which is run by Alessandro De Matteis in Italy and Terry McGarry in England. Thanks guys! It took an entire day in the studio to complete this edited version which has several changes as well. I’m enjoying turning some of these into acoustic versions which is bringing out a lot of our picking and strumming, especially the intricate guitar playing by John Kolbeck. The drums, bass and 7 electric tracks were eliminated, but the main electric melody at the end was a staple that had to stay. There is some cool new panning of acoustics as well and some retooling of vocal parts. So, listen with a good pair of headphones. The only unfortunate part is that in order to load a longer track on word press, I had to compress my wave file to the lowest mp3 level there is. Ugh.

You may believe Revenge is a song about getting back at someone, but it is the opposite. I am still filled with anxiousness, but through my new spiritual journey learning about Buddhism and meditating nightly, I am a much more calm individual. (Kolbeck is laughing while reading this…) There is an app called Insight Timer which has helped me learn to breathe and find deep sleep when I need it most. It is also helping me in relieving the urge to write Nick Cole from the Scunthorpe Telegraph and ask if he really listened to our new album in its entirety before calling it bland in his extremely short and lazy review. 2 years of hard work, numerous mentions for album of the year and with a stroke of the keyboard – wham! It took a few extra meditation sessions to get through the word “bland” galloping inside my brain. Ha!

I do need to thank all of you who have included the new tracks in your podcasts, playlists, etc. Special thanks to Gideon Coe at BBC radio 6 for playing our stuff! Huge thanks to Jack Rabid, Jeff Clark, Nuno Almeida, Brett Holdaway, Jason Adolf, Shane Beck (Get Well May!) and Tim Forker for the wonderfully written and extremely positive reviews which are greatly appreciated! I know I’m forgetting several..

Thanks also to the music critic at the Essex Enquirer who actually has an ear for music!  “14 well thought out tracks.” Indeed! 

Gracias to Barry Ricker for the videos of Sleepwalking and Golden Black. Very cool – check them out!

As You Live, I Will Live, As You You Breathe, I Will Breathe

I am Blood, I am Sin, And I Am Hope , Let Me In

Revenge – Written By Jack Sobel, John Kolbeck 

Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals – Jack Sobel, John Kolbeck

Backing Vocals – Gretchen Copeland, John Kolbeck

©2017 wanderland music publishing BMI used by permission only