Pattern-Seeking Animals
Spooky Action At A Distance

Fourth album in four years for Pattern-Seeking Animals, if only everyone had their prolificacy reminiscent of the seventies! It's said that too much prolificacy might work against quality and inspiration (Dream Theater has also faced criticism in this aspect, when their releases were regularly biennial) but that's not the case for now. "Spooky Action at a Distance" is one of the best works of the past year, another brilliant example of modern and flashy prog that isn't enslaved by its past.

The quartet affiliated with Spock’s Beard started with an album that was practically prog-pop with ingenious sounds but made of light songs that led us to believe we were witnessing a formally melodic project, but the next two albums told us much more (while maintaining the underlying melodic setup), presenting us with a far more eclectic and daring band in its influences. In what direction does this highly anticipated fourth album go? Let's say it falls in the middle: it largely recovers the scheme of the first album, returning to favor less structured tracks focused on a more declared but not simple melodic song, yet it doesn't lack seasoning from the various influences accumulated thereafter; in this strongly melodic context, Ted Leonard's voice can manifest in all its power; however, when the track length increases, the quartet fully unveils its creative vein and the mix of influences explodes without much hesitation.

The ingredients remain more or less the same; they continue to use old organs and mellotrons but in a tremendously modernized key, brilliant strings that aren't really intended to become symphonic, spiky and rather quirky keyboard and synth sounds, plus a whole range of ethnic and folk solutions; as if nothing were amiss, we find sounds of mandolins, bongos, harps, violins, flutes, hurdy-gurdies (I don't know if all these instruments are real, but those are the sounds), thus the sound embraces different musical traditions, from American folk to Latin, Eastern, and East-European music; solutions that sometimes are even disorienting for the prog genre, a genre supposed to be wide open and experimental but often reveals itself to be closed in its traditionalist bubble, contradicting even its own definition; but not here. The most disparate influences here are not sporadic genius ideas but integral parts of the composition's construction; there is a freedom to dare, create, and experiment, which should be normal in prog.

As already mentioned, it’s in the longer compositions that the utmost fantasy and inspiration are drawn out, starting from the opener "The Man Made of Stone," with its American ride led by dazzling mandolins, or "Somewhere North of Nowhere" where it's strange electronic sketches that capture the listener's attention, but also "Summoned from Afar" where mandolins, heavy synths, percussion, flutes, mellotrons, and more alternate casually. Not to mention what happens in "He Once Was," the backbone of the album with its 12 minutes, more dynamic in the first part and slower in the second, in any case, a continuous alternation and overlapping of elements that can't leave one indifferent: fairy tale flutes at the opening, then electronic caresses, western-style guitars and flutes overlap until the explosion of Latin rhythms with mandolins, percussion, and sharp synths before the second part, slower and ordinary, offering among other things a sax solo.

The other tracks, more concise and less structured, as we said bring the band back to the melodic essence of origins but don't think they aren't interesting, quite the contrary. Standing out first is "What Awaits Me," which flows fresh and smooth with its simple plot guided by acoustic guitar and mandolin, but in the second half, it overlaps in a very original way with faintly Gypsy strings while a low and sinister synth pounds in the background. "Bulletproof" is melancholic yet brilliant at the same time, making ingenious use of keyboards, introducing cold and vibrant sounds that aren't at all hackneyed. There are then tracks with lively rhythm and summer brilliance, like "Window to the World" and "Clouds That Never Rain," while contrasting is the ballad "Underneath the Orphan Moon," a piano-strings combination which, despite its ordinariness, doesn't refrain from surprising with its brilliance. "Love Is Still the Light" is an ambitious attempt to mix pop, AOR, and folk in an unusual way... and it succeeds really well, it's a track that doesn't reveal itself immediately and this is often a sign that something incredible has been done. The uninspiring track, easily dispensable, is "There Goes My Baby": leaving aside the fact that the word "baby" is rather annoying, syrupy, and kitschy and any serious group would avoid it a priori (but you know, Genesis also used it in one of their illustrious compositions and hence everything is forgiven), the track is somewhat simplistic and doesn't take off like the others. As a bonus track, we have live versions of tracks from previous albums, essentially a plus for collectors.

It is not known whether Pattern-Seeking Animals is a temporary project or destined to last over time, but in the meantime, they confirm themselves as a fresh band with its own identity; any comparison with past bands or even more recent ones seems out of place, in fact, I have totally avoided them in this review; those who compare them to Yes or Genesis (yes, I've heard this too) have understood nothing, but even if we mention compatriots Kansas, it feels like a stretch; they certainly aren't Spock's Beard 2.0. I even dare to say that it is one of the top albums of 2023 and that with such a level of inspiration, Spock’s Beard could also comfortably not return in the studio.