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""Only Passing Through" is a more heterogeneous album compared to its predecessors with some successful tracks which allow to ensure the essential and to arouse the interest for the continuation."
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3/5
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Pattern-Seeking Animals could have been a supergroup like many others and released only one album, the musicians being busy with their other respective projects. But no! The US quartet seems to be determined to continue their (fast) pace with already a third album, the first one being released in 2019. Looking at the biography of the Los Angeles natives, we can easily understand why the combo is writing at lightning speed. Ex-Spock's Beard member, frontman John Boegehold (keyboards, programming, production) found himself over the years with a bunch of songs that could have been on Spock's Beard albums but didn't fit. In founding Pattern-Seeking Animals, the goal was to finally immortalize these tracks and allow them to find a home to exist. This is how the musician laid the foundations of his new project, setting himself the purpose of releasing at least one album per year!
Pattern-Seeking Animals has a real sense of composition and confirms its ability to write tracks that are both immediate and melodic while keeping progressive roots with a sometimes pronounced complexity. It is essentially on the shortest formats that the band stands out, like on the very beautiful ballad 'Rock Paper Scissors', full of lightness, or the eponymous 'Only Passing Through', concise and right. 'I Can't Stay Here Any More' could very well have been on one of the previous albums, with strong and instantaneous melodic hooks. In a catchy and immediate register, 'Everdark Mountain' also works quite well without reaching the success of 'No One Ever Died and Made Me King' on the first album or 'Why Don't We Run' on the second.
Being classified as progressive rock, one expects a lot from 'Time Has A Way' and its thirteen minutes, especially since the band has composed little nuggets in the genre, like 'Lifeboat' on "Prehensile Tales" or 'No Burden Left To Carry' on its first album. Very rich and diversified in terms of ambiences, it seems nevertheless to miss a little something to make it a reference track. The same goes for the end of the record, a bit disappointing, with two long and rather uneven tracks ('Said The Stranger' and 'Here With You With Me') lacking a bit of strength of character.
Also, after a third album, the compositional gimmicks, or in a general way, the band's touch, start to be felt more and more, and it seems difficult for the band to reinvent itself (unless it's not a will on its part). "Only Passing Through" is therefore a more heterogeneous album in terms of writing quality compared to its predecessors with some successful tracks which allow to ensure the essential and to arouse the interest for the continuation. - Official website
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TRACK LISTING:
01. Everdark Mountain - 2:50
02. I Can't Stay Here Anymore - 6:05
03. Time Has a Way - 13:15
04. Rock Paper Scissors - 5:01
05. Much Ado - 4:49
06. Only Passing Through - 4:19
07. Said the Stranger - 7:07
08. Here with You with Me - 8:14
09. I'm Not Alright - 4:17
10. Just Another Day at the Beach - 3:32
LINEUP:
Jimmy Keegan: Chant / Batterie
Dave Meros: Basse
John Boegehold: Claviers
Ted Leonard: Chant / Guitares
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(0) MIND(S) FROM OUR READERS
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Top of the page
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(0) COMMENT(S)
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READERS
4/5 (3 view(s))
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STAFF:
3/5 (2 view(s))
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IN RELATION WITH PATTERN-SEEKING ANIMALS
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LAST INTERVIEW
PATTERN-SEEKING ANIMALS (APRIL 2020)
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In full confinement, Music Waves went to meet the supergroup's strong man, producer, multi-instrumentalist, leader and composer of Pattern-Seeking Animals,
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OTHER REVIEWS
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OTHER(S) REVIEWS ABOUT PATTERN-SEEKING ANIMALS
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