The second chronicle of the series devoted to progressive rock is that of the Americans of 'Pattern-Seeking Animals' which is a new project initiated by the keyboardist 'John Boegehold' who has collaborated to the writing of some titles of 'Spock's Beard' since 2003 and for the occasion appealed to members of the group, the singer 'Ted Leonard', the bassist 'Dave Meros' and the former drummer 'Jimmy Keegan'. Of course, we are in a progressive style with 3 titles around 10 minutes but the album also contains shorter titles away from progressive style with 'No One Ever Died and Made Me King' quite close to the AOR, then the melancholic ballads 'The Same Mistakes Again', 'Fall Away' and 'These Are My Things', the latter making me think of the style of the Scottish 'Al Stewart', the ritornello 'We Write the Ghost Stories' with his ternary tempo of a waltz and finally the very accessible 'No Land's Man' with its pop style. Regarding the progressive constructions, 'No Burden Left to Carry' is quite typical of a rich progressive multi-drawer title that must be acquired in several listenings, then 'Orphans Of The Universe' continues in this atmosphere and finally, 'Stars Along The Way' of more than 10 minutes closes the album with a composition more accessible and less convoluted. In summary, this new project 'Pattern-Seeking Animals', although similarities with 'Spock's Beard' are present here and there, appears much more accessible with an alternation of rich and elaborate titles and others much more direct and allows vary styles to be open to a relatively wide audience... | |
