Pattern-Seeking Animals
Only Passing Through

Without wasting time, without scratching their balls, for Pattern-Seeking Animals it's already the third album, and the results are still incredible. The Spock’s Beard offshoot side project presented itself to the public as a new incarnation of melodic prog, but the second album immediately showed us a band that didn't want to settle for being confined to this characterization, thus revealing itself to be much more eclectic and varied in its influences. This third album could only be its direct consequence, the extension of the creative prosthesis.

Honestly, “Only Passing Through” is not just any album (neither was “Prehensile Tales”), it’s not another nostalgic prog whim as there are thousands, it’s not the kind of album you consume for a month and forget, it's an example of fresh music made of very well-combined influences.

A classic base made of organs and mellotron is there, but as already happened in the first two albums, it serves a fresh and modern sound, these sounds don’t want to act nostalgically. Once again, the synth parts sound quite original and don’t aim to be yet another tribute to Keith Emerson or Tony Banks. So far, nothing new, these are characteristics we found in the first two albums as well. What makes the album truly inspired and interesting is the tangible ethnic imprint evident in the compositions; the sound remains fundamentally North American but often tinges with Latin, Middle Eastern, Gypsy, Indian colors, which do not intend to prevail but play their part and stand out, I don’t think we are facing true prog-folk, but these inflections abound and offer catchy and unusual ethno-prog moments. Influences also noticeable in the previous album (the two brief central tracks were there to prove it), which already represented a remarkable step forward, but here it really explodes. It is impossible to remain indifferent to all those sounds of dazzling mandolins, melancholic violins, carpeted percussions, blaring trumpets.

This time, however, they have tried to keep the durations shorter. In the second album, they wanted to overdo it and showcase their more explicitly prog nature, the central goal seemed to be the development of the tracks, the care for structures; here instead the idea is more about developing ideas, combining them, creating the right mix, if possible doing it within a smaller time frame. The result might be better, although it’s hard to say by how much; we could say this third album is a middle ground between the first and the second album but behaves like neither, it goes beyond them both, it is simply “Only Passing Through” and nothing else. The title is more than fitting because it simply describes what the band has done, simply moving beyond.

To better understand how things are, diving into the tracks is the best thing to do. The influences described above are essentially concentrated in the first four tracks. The first, “Everdark Mountain”, is a perfect and brilliant folk-rock with a lively and warm mandolin and synths with an Arabic tint, a direct and effective track with a summer and Mediterranean flavor. The second, “I Can’t Stay Here Anymore”, sounds much more American, offering an engaging and sharp rock but always very bright, with clear references to Kansas and Styx, but those percussion carpets audible just enough move the sound towards the more central or southern coasts of the continent. The peak of it all, however, resides in the 13 minutes (yes, this time they venture into longer durations) of “Time Has a Way”, which flows wonderfully without glitches, with extreme lightness, passing quickly without even realizing it; the first part is lively and swirling, moving between sharp bass lines, violin scratches, trumpet chants, sparkling percussions, bursts of flamenco and more classic organ passages, while the second is slower and more melancholic, featuring a part that resembles a rumba where the percussions mark its delicate rhythm framing a grayer, pre-autumnal melody. Then there is “Rock Paper Scissors”, which is something quite original halfway between the mandolin-driven folk ballad and a sort of melancholic tango punctuated by precise and decisive drum and bass hits.

The rest of the album is quite different but always with the same fundamental principle: sounding fresh. This is demonstrated, for example, by “Said the Stranger,” where the various rhythmic and instrumental escapes are accompanied by hypnotic synth loops and strange repeated effects reminiscent of the sound of a saw going back and forth. “Here with You with Me” is instead an exaltation of the more melodic and refined side, the melody is enhanced and carried throughout all 8 minutes, minutes that perhaps could have been slightly fewer but are not wasted at all. The melodic exaltation succeeds better in the title track, which focuses on a more melancholic aspect, sounds deliberately desolate, slightly symphonic, it is the perfect melodic track of the album. “Much Ado” disappoints, however, as the lowest point of the album: it starts well with an unusual funk but doesn’t delve into it, gets lost instantly and doesn’t know where it wants to go, whether to be more or less melodic, acoustic or electric, aggressive or not, resulting in being neither one nor the other.

There are also two bonus tracks, “I’m Not Alright” is quite negligible, “Just Another Day at the Beach” is instead a little pop gem, it's the perfect beach song, which demolishes the cliché of the "typical crappy summer song," this is summery and cheerful while maintaining full musical decency, sounds simple but sounds good, with guitars well exposed and arranged with simplicity and intelligence; I would have easily included it in the regular tracklist instead of “Much Ado.”

I say this with complete sincerity: Pattern-Seeking Animals are a reality that cannot be ignored, they are a brilliant name in the new prog, and this is one of the best albums of the year. And apparently, the best is yet to come, the band is very active and already working on a fourth chapter. Putting Spock's Beard on pause was more than a fitting choice.