The pairing of Bryan, the left-of-centre alternative-country singer-songwriter with McCormack, the acclaimed producer with a string of mainstream hits, came as a surprise to many – but to Lachlan it was clear that they spoke the same musical language.

“It might seem like we come from opposite ends of the country music spectrum” says Lachlan “but we actually have so much in common in terms of our influences and our heroes. Rod really understood what I was trying to do with this record – and he knew how to make it happen”.

Rod signed Lachlan to his Core Music label in May and by June had put together the line-up for the album. Once the band (Bryan on acoustic guitar and vocals, Jeff McCormack on bass, Garry Steel on piano/organ/accordion, Glen Hannah and Rod on additional guitars) was in place the recordings came together easily.

“I’d made rough demos of all the songs at home, just me and my guitar” recalls Lachlan. “In the studio we’d all gather in the control room and listen to the demo of whatever song we were about to play – then we’d walk in, sit down and record it. We tracked the whole record in a few days. We didn’t overdo anything – Rod was determined to keep the songs fresh and new and spontaneous throughout the process and I think you can hear that in the results”.

Whilst Lachlan’s previous release Ballad of a Young Married Man (the album he made in 2009 with his band The Wildes) received unanimous praise from reviewers and the public, the songs on this solo record show new levels of maturity from the young writer.

On Secret I’ll take to the Grave he sings from the perspective of an unfaithful partner, addressing ‘the other woman’:

“Woman’s intuition goes only so far.
It took me a day and a half to get your perfume out of my car.
How I’d love to be there with you, in the morning
but I just don’t think that there’s a way
I guess you’ll just be the secret I’ll take to my grave”

Whilst on the bluesy As Best I Can the tone is a little lighter, as Lachlan laments:

“You got your attitude from your mother
That’s why I sympathise with your old man”

Other album highlights include the murder ballad Lily of the Fields, gospel knees-up I’d Rather Sing in Churches, love-lorn weeper Whistle and Waltz (a duet with Kasey Chambers) and virtual new-years-resolution Going Straight.

Shadow of the Gun is an ‘album’ in the true sense of the word – a journey from start to finish that truly blooms on repeat listening – and an impressive debut from one of the brightest young writers we’ve seen in a long time.