ALBUM REVIEW: Only Passing Through – Pattern-Seeking Animals
2020 was a good year for PATTERN-SEEKING ANIMALS. Stirring up frenzy within and outside their close-knit fanbase, their second record Prehensile Tales’ sterling ambition and beauty brought the sounds of classic prog rock from eras gone by kicking and screaming (polyrhythmically, of course) into the new decade. It thrust the band onto the fast-track for AOTY potential, murmurs of which still remain and keep the prog-heads in strong regard. Just two years down the road and somehow the band has arrived at another milestone. Only Passing Through may not initially reflect its predecessor’s immense aspirations, but the veins of this beast travel deep and the young buck has inherited much of its forebear and beyond.
PATTERN-SEEKING ANIMALS only had two options for Only Passing Through. Either score the hat-trick and extend the band’s clean sheet, or set a new precedent by producing something other than greatness. Of course, it was only ever going to be the former. It’s a record that binds the band stronger to the new canon of modern ‘classic prog’ – among the likes of LONG DISTANCE CALLING and PAIN OF SALVATION – with harmonies and textures that call back to the genre’s almighty renaissance brushed with the technical sensibilities of the modern-day. Fronted by in-your-face-bass, a plethora of eclectic lead wizardry, Ted Leonard’s characterful vocals and enough retro-futuristic keyboard riffing to score an 80s sci-fi drama, the band retain their signature palette and – despite the arguably antique arrangement – sounds no less pertinent to 2022’s musical canon than their younger contemporaries.
As a whole, this record is a majestic and wonderfully balanced piece of music. Only Passing Through shares a great deal of its potent imagination with its 2020 sibling but tackles the same goal of creative scale with a slightly skewed perspective. Prehensile Tales often focused on mammoth-sized tracks to comprise much of its runtime and numerous stylistic switch-ups and, while its successor doesn’t shy away from longer entries, Only Passing Through is a punchier package and is so to its own benefit. Bolstered by the band’s eloquent song-writing quill, the immense variety on display is a wonder to experience. Everdark Mountain draws the LP’s curtains with an off-kilter cyber-folk rock number; Rock Paper Scissors haunts as a gripping anti-war anthem replete with ghostly child-like harmonies on its hook; Much Ado dares to mix funk atop a power rock ballad template, and Said The Stranger even throws in some ‘space-cowboy’ undertones with its spaghetti-western licks and galloping beats – as if MUSE’s Knights Of Cydonia was actually written in the 70s. It’s an eclectic melting-pot on paper and we haven’t even turned over half of the record’s neatly arranged stones.
The rare misstep is Here With You With Me. This really is the nittiest of picks as there is a great deal to praise about this heavily endowed orchestral number – particularly in its ear for impassioned solos – but the melody can falter at times, especially when surrounded by numerous examples of s-tier ranked hooks and verses. Of course, it’s a minor affair at worst and only further exemplifies how a ‘very good’ song is a fall from grace for the band that is operating almost permanently at 11/10 and beyond.
To anyone aware of the band’s history, this expertise will come as no bombshell. With two-thirds of the line-up being either present or previous contributors to prog heroes SPOCK’S BEARD, the compositional pedigree is a matter of transferable skills. Yet this album marks a mastering of their own domain. Since their 2018 inception, they’ve been trying to shake off the comparisons to groups with whom they share their DNA, and Only Passing Through feels like the final nail in this particular coffin. It’s wonderfully catchy, as memorable as it is downright bizarre at times, and it’s impossible not to catch an ear-to-ear grin throughout as the band truly feel at home between the ten tracks. Ted Leonard in particular is an infectiously charismatic orator. With the voice of a thespian, he dances in and out of desperation, anguish and anger, his range seemingly unbound with just as much power to his delicate whispers to his enraged cries. Fittingly, Leonard is placed well within the mix – as is the remaining ensemble – indebted to the album’s masterful production that doesn’t leave a single of its numerous cherry-picked genres unloved.
The confines of a single review do no great justice for the talents of these modern-retro superstars. Only Passing Through is by and large the group’s greatest achievement. Prehensile Tales was a fantastic victory in the sphere of prog rock and somehow the band has packaged its wonder into a more concise, catchier, more inviting but no less exciting vista. If you want to write modern prog rock, this is how you do it.
Rating: 9/10
Only Passing Through is set for release on April 1st via InsideOut Music.
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