Forever Five: Jack Ladder

Jack Ladder, looking sad, hangs off a balcony

If Jack Ladder wasn’t such a cheeky lad, he would still be impossible to miss—toweringly tall, charismatic, and armed with a deep baritone that can command attention and spark lifelong friendships before he’s even sung a note. His tastes are classic—Nina Simone, Van Morrison, Iggy Pop—but his choices still lean left of center, drawn to the shadowy corners of conventional sounds. Few artists sum him up better than one personally selected by David Lynch to soundtrack Twin Peaks: Julee Cruise. Across his own discography, he subverts expectations, twisting familiar styles into something stranger, sadder, and undeniably his own. Here’s what made the cut for Jack Ladder’s FOREVER FIVE.