ONLY PASSING THROUGH

The influence of Styx seems to remain strong even nowadays, by the conduit of a pair of Spock Beard's offsprings/side projects at least, like D'Virgilio Morse & Jennings, and Pattern-Seeking Animals.

And that sounds to me more like an asset set to produce new musical value than the useless burden of a glorious past. The unmistakably symphonic brand evoked by the name of the Chicago band doesn't exclude a good measure of folk ingredients thrown in the mix, as is the case in track 1. Everdark Mountain, and 4. Rock Paper Scissors, with a sound reminiscing of Boat On The River (specially the opener) and of Sing For The Day (but luckily without the hit-oriented eagerness). The nicely fiddling-sounding violin is a great contribution to the overall sound and the brass arrangements are still in place, but emerging with a less prominent profile. The alternance between acoustic/calmer, and electric/rockier moments is really accomplished, and the instrumental mini-beauties showing their faces from shift to shift are not all indebted with the past: there are flashes of sonic originality too, particularly on the keys department.

Summing up, if you were not too fond with the aforementioned Styx legacy, then you probably should read this like a three-star only review, meaning that this is a very good album, but not a perfect addition to your library. For all those who are not in such refusal, this is an unreserved four star.

The music of Pattern-Seeking Animals is an example of what we could call 'a modern progressive rock band', that is, a proposal that, making use of the elements that characterize classic progressive rock, explores with modern instruments - both musical and production - new facets of Rock (Hard rock in most cases), thus differentiating themselves from 'retro' bands, more obstinate in using vintage instruments and more direct influences from classic bands.

Focusing more on the album, I would only say that there are two types of musical pieces on this one. On the one hand the shorter songs (1,4,5,6) that are quite accessible and that I would call - deliberately - 'rock songs with beautiful arrangements'. And on the other are the remaining pieces (2,3,7,8) which is where the band shows its creativity the most.

I would not say that this is an excellent addition to the music, but it is an interesting proposal that will surely give us better albums in the future. For now, just to listen to "Time Has a Way" I think this album is worth listening to.

OPT is the third studio album by L.A. based prog rock project Pattern-Seeking Animals and the lineup consists of:

#tedleonard on vocals & guitars (#enchant #spocksbeard)

#jimmykeegan on drums & vocals (session drummer for #spocksbeard #eyesberg #stevebonino etc)

#davemeros on bass (#spocksbeard #bigbigtrain)

#johnboegehold on keyboards (#spocksbeard)

So, although is inevitable to find tons of SB's moments throughout their music, PSA's sounds more melodic while still delivering high quality prog music, sounding more immediate than other acts without giving up on the masterful instrumentation.

Everdark Mountain opens the album with ukelele-like guitars sending the listener straight to early days mountain living, before keys and bass inflict the modernity that will be somehow present in the next 60 minutes or so. Very cool opener, short and precise, powerful and melodic. Leonard's voice is sounding better than ever btw

I Can't Stay Here Anymore is one of my favorite songs, has that early 80's (circa Perfect Strangers) DP sound so hypnotic, guess someone here is a #jonlord fan? this I know, this I know! It then flows into the pretty well arranged upbeat song that will guarantee further listens to the album, is just one of those type of songs that without been necessarily single-material has the imminent fan-favorite potential written all over it.

Time Has a Way is the longest song of the album and its heavy and groovy, the keys-guitars tandem is incredible, as is the rhythmic section, really outstanding, with fresh and new instruments making sporadic appearances to enhance the song structure, from horns (trumpets?) to strings (violins,cello?) to guitar solos to atmospheric greatness, quite a song my friends, top shelf!

Rock Paper Scissors would be the final and mortal stab, the ultimate hook. Asian sounding melodies (like those coming out of an ancient music box), soldier drumming and enchanting vocalization are some of the variety features found in this song, immediately memorable with a looping ear worm chorus that even my twin boys (they're only six) already enjoy and know by heart, a song that feels like known since forever. Again, great guitar work.

Much Ado "the rocker" combines late 70's rock riffing with Spanish sounding guitars and classic piano, yes indeed! Modern textures invade this song with keys, punchy guitar licks and absolute great drumming.

The title track, Only Passing Through follows in a more mellow mood that will eventually (as expected) evolve into a very cool and strong song, sometimes a little corky but never leaving the conceptual feeling of the band's work, they're only passing through?this album is good stuff people.

Said The Stranger takes us to more symphonic territory (the second wave) where the keys come up front and lead the way to 7 minutes of excelency, modern melodic prog A+ executed. Techno sounding key layers, yet never overwhelming, just enough to remind you that this is 2022 not early 70's nor early 90's, superb I would imply.

Here With You With Me is the final song ro at least it seem to have been the intended album closer, however all versions known to me have two additional bonus tracks by default. Again to the 70's this time to the late pop era of that decade, all the ingredients of a pop prog classic, eclectic but coherent in every sense, almost cartoonish at times, storyteller at others and even kind of theatrical? Once again, great great stuff.

I'm Not Alright is the first of the two bonus tracks and it opens with a flute, yes?and then Just Another Day at the Beach? the first is a very good song, it feels like a song that could easily fit within the overall concept of OPT but I think it lacks a little bit of those musical perks found in every song that preceded it, however the second song I do find a little misplaced maybe because is too bright or happy, it doesn't make OPT a poor album, but it does not add anything either.

I truly recommend this album, I think is unique and fantastic, a work of art. RhythmRhythm and clocks slightly over 12 minutes. Heavy and atmospheric, catchy guitar riffing and some arpeggio-like electric licks that create kind of an hypnotic ambience. Tasty piano, fat bass lines and tight drumming round up the sound. Cool track, not much happening here but quite enjoyable.

Group which had released in 2019 a small musical bomb with the album of the same name, with Ted Leonard of ENCHANT who still remains for his first eponymous album one of the 20 best in my discography. In short, I'm digressing just to remind you that there are SPOCK'S BEARD musicians in it and you'll understand a little the kind of music you're going to listen to, since I was somewhat disappointed with their second one.

'Everdark Mountain' great intro that gets the sound going. 'Time Has a Way' for the track of the album, fruity, energetic, with levels, with drawers, well in the movement of prog rock as we conceive it in 2020, long but interesting, without a blank. 'Rock Paper Scissors' and 'Much Ado' more in radio edit, short, punchy, a bit on SPOCK'S BEARD, a bit much on KANSAS and STYX for the sound. 'Only Passing Through' eponymous title for the ballad of the album, a bit soporific. 'Said the Stranger' longer and immediately more prog, its pleasant sound, evolving synth, forward and dancing drums yes it is possible in any case very symphonic with this flight of violins; short favorite since that's where I recognize Ted the most. 'Here with You with Me' in line with a good prog song, to cut your teeth. 'I'm Not Alright' and 'Just Another Day at the Beach' like little English nursery rhymes, which smell good of the GENESIS of yesteryear, Alice's musical delusions.

Group wanted for Ted's voice, I got used to it without finally finding his voice, the singing is different; on the other hand the sound makes me happy, pleasure to find fresh sound, looking for sounds in dinosaurs but mixing them together to get fresh notes, good for a current prog rock, far from said dinosaurs.

This is the 3rd album from Pattern-Seeking Animals, following their self titled (2019) and Prehensile Tales (2020) albums. The band was formed in 2018 and consists of current and former members and collaborators of Prog stalwarts Spock's Beard, including guitarist and lead vocalist Ted Leonard, Dave Meros (bass), Jimmy Keegan (drums), and John Boegehold (synthesizers, guitar, mandolin). Apparently they formed to develop songs they were writing that didn't necessarily quite fit for Spock's Beard, which gave them opportunities to explore various other musical directions. They incorporate a lot of pop and power pop sensibilities in establishing great hooks, melodies, and vocals, but also mix in good bits of jazz, folk, classical, and film score prowess, but also never abandon their eclectic Prog approach (with plenty of odd-time curves and proggy instrumental breakouts). Each successive album has been better than their previous one, and here on their third they really soar. Great stuff throughout. What I am most impressed with is how imaginative and inventive the songs and arrangements are. They put in whatever extra instrumentation and arrangement flourishes that will enhance each song (horns, mandolin, sitar, bassoon, violin, cello, specialty percussion). Even the songs that seem like they will be relatively straight-forward pop/rock songs go into very interesting and unexpected directions (such as 'Much Ado', which starts out as an all-out rocker, and then drops into a cool acoustic vibe for the vocals and builds back into a rockin' anthem). From the very opening notes of 'Everdark Mountain', I was hooked, with its unique dark woodland prog sound, and it just takes off from there. Although the album is a bit frontloaded (The very best songs are all in the 1st 5 tracks), it is nonetheless great throughout, with the mini-epic 'Time Has a Way' probably the highlight. The album also includes two 'bonus tracks', which are also quite good, but I think it was a good call to classify these as bonus tracks and not an actual part of the album, as they are both a somewhat different style, and decidedly less 'proggy' than the rest of the album, with 'I'm Not Alright' being a straight rocker, and 'Just Another Day at The Beach' being a fun, lighter pop-rock ditty. Overall, this is among the best albums of 2022). Best Tracks: 'Time Has a Way', 'Everdark Mountain', 'Much Ado', 'I Can't Stay Here Anymore'. Weak Tracks: None. Rating 4.5.

I mean, we're all trying to figure this sh*t out, right?

Life, I mean. Existence. We are the only existential life forms on this planet (that we know of), cursed with the horrors of meta- consciousness. We're born, we walk around a bit, skip over puddles, pick noses, figure out what do with ourselves, wonder what ever happened to Joanne, and then suddenly one day? Kaputski!

Hencewise, which is a word that does not and should not exist, current and former Spock's Beard members Ted Leonard, Dave Meros, John Boegehold, and Jimmy Keegan named their band Pattern-Seeking Animals. That's the purest descriptive distillation imaginable which encapsulates the previous paragraph.

All of that is a rather long-winded way to get to my review of Pattern-Seeking Animals's third album Only Passing Through.

The album celebrates a constant exploration of a root theme: the workaday existential woes and wide-eyed contemplation of simply being. Do we have a soul, where are we going, should we just enjoy what we have, and why do we keep hooking each other up to car batteries when we're angry in the first place? Forgive my glib delivery, because this light-years from the band's wistful tone and introspective presentation. There is joyfulness here but there is also despair, and isn't all of it indelibly attached to the human adventure?

Only Passing Through ruminates on these notions with a musical palette that is melodic, diverse, and inventive? and the end result is really, really good. So let's get crackin'.

Opening track "Everdark Mountain" kicks things off with a percussive rhythm so pervasively engaging, I half-expected someone to jump in rocking them Peruvian pan flutes. Only when time signatures begin running askance are we tipped into prog territory. "Everdark Mountain" personifies every last bit of isolation and social anxiety in a lush musical gravity well. Even the lifting bits of mandolin-like strings can't elevate us from its pull. This is a powerful opener.

The infectiously punchy bassline of "I Can't Stay Here Any More" is your basic entrapment; they're purposefully enticing you into this opening mélange where the tango meets the volta, or some such delight. But with all of John Boegehold's swirling synths, Ted Loenard's atmospheric guitar lines and pleading vocals, or the musicality of Jimmy Keegan's drum work, it's Dave Meros's crisp melodic bass propelling the song forward, at least during the faster first half the song.

The slower breakdown during the song's second half takes the darkest elements of the album opener (the resounding defeat and desolation from "Everdark Mountain") and refracts them through human determination, the spirit of will to change. It's almost like a show-tune, juxtaposing the harmonic concordance of the music with this dark aftertaste, culminating in the steadfast refusal of the everyday nothing, the rejection of inertial pointlessness

And haven't we all wanted to get the hell out of podunk the minute we were able to? None of us could stay there. Evolution, man.

"Time Has A Way" is the album's "epic" track, a 13 minute rumination on time as the ultimate devourer. Certainly not a new theme by any stretch but art is never about the "what" but rather the "how". PSA nails it here. is the album standout track, a powerful and enticing tune. It begins entirely busy, almost chaotic, slithering like a desert rattlesnake in a mad frolic. There's frenzy on parade here, held in high relief against the tight musicianship from the band. The flamenco-inspired bridge with the Romani violin is inspired, instantly connecting with the listener on an almost reptilian level.

That's really what hits. The individual elements, the keyboards, guitars, synths, pianos, that driving bassline, pinpoints of identifiable character amid a maelstrom of music. Throughout the chaos the song's tempo ebbs, flows, pulling us in every possible direction until the vocals finally kick in around the 4:40 mark.

Here is where the central archetype makes his entrance: the lonely gunfighter, riding into town. Looking for something: a girl, a feeling, something left behind and devoured by history long ago. Time doesn't even live there any more; she doesn't love there either. What he's been chasing was lost to oblivion.

"Time Has A Way" ends with a darker, slower, more incisive shift. The orchestrations swirl about us, like chronological mists asserting themselves as the ultimate nullifiers. The ultimate gravedigger. This is where the album wears its prog verisimilitude high on its sleeve. It is probably the least "accessible" track (ugh) but it's a powerhouse.

"Rock Paper Scissors" is the album's first "single", if we can call it that. I would hearken to say it's probably not one of my favorite album tracks. I appreciate the musical-box opening, a childlike door into summer. It's soft and circular like a rhythmic refrain punctuated by toy soldier drumbeats. The song is slower, perhaps a tad bit too on-the-nose in subject matter vis-a-vis how our childhood games devolve into these insatiable adult power voids. Time, again, seemingly destroying everything, while we're left spinning in circles and searching for truth.

I think the ambition outpaces the delivery, but "Rock Paper Scissors" is an agreeable tune. I want to call out the chorus, in which the "Rock, paper, scissors" refrain almost sounds like a children's choir? which makes the sadly undeniable adult delivery that much creepier. And heartbreaking.

"Much Ado"? is that a hint of Skynyrd in that rockin' opening riff? Whatever it is, it succeeds, especially with that classical guitar contraponto. This rocker flirts with classic rock tropes but strips them off their decaying cliches, lending the song a strong sense of familiarity. But not the type that breeds contempt; more like empathetic resonance. Again I have to call out the chorus, which is reminiscent of some vintage 70s Kansas with its wall of vocal harmony. Many voices screaming out in isolation ? together. The irony is thickly sliced.

With the album's title track, we get a bit of a rope-a-dope. It opens with a somewhat mournful piano line, filtered through some off-putting modulation, like a deflated pianist trying to find meaning in single keystrokes. The vocal introduction reinforces this melancholic unease? until it totally doesn't.

The song explodes with impulsive positivity, maybe not quite joyfulness, but the peaceful acceptance of and surrender to transience. Each life on this planet has a retirement date; existence is limited-time only deal! So go ahead and launch yourself into the sky with wild abandon. Or as Rumi put it: we're all born with wings, so why crawl through life?

Eventually we'll all crash to the ground anyhow, and yet the sky continues. What a great song.

"Said The Stranger" could be the lost soundtrack to a deleted scene from Jodorowsky's El Topo. I mean here we have a cinematic western opening, at which I'd hate to throw the standardized Enrico Morricone reference except that I just did. Damn it.

But cinematic is an apt comparison. A stage is set in which you could basically swap Apollo and Dionysus from Rush's Hemispheres cover with the Gunfighter and a Pilgrim featured here. Only with significantly less bowler hats and butt-nekkidity. Unless you're into that sort of thing? ANYWAY as Surf Guitar meets Hammond Organ, Cowboy and Pilgrim debate the cosmic fireballs of whether or not it is more essential to listen to the pain of the world, the laments/regrets of the long since dead, or is it better to listen to the wind, the spirit within, the eternity of the soul, perhaps a Creator itself?

As the debate unfurls, each character reinforced by musical expression. The music is more focused, aligned, and cohesive when the Pilgrim manifests calm reason. The Cowboy's moments are louder, punchier, more dynamic, more epic. And this dichotomy drives the song to our deep satisfaction.

The album proper ends with "Here With You With Me", which is an easygoing pop tonic, almost like a reassurance of sorts. Is it actually flirting with Yacht Rock for a moment or two there? Sounds a bit like it to me. Hints of Toto-like musicality, with its crisp production alongside enticing vocal harmonies. There's more than a bit of Steely Dan in some of the guitar fills and sitar tones, along with some percussive silkiness over the verses. This is a love song and dare I say, a sexy one? Your mileage, as always, may vary, but this is a commanding closer.

The two bonus tracks start with "I'm Not Alright", which is an effective ballad (or slow rocker) of sorts. A flute-driven minor key opening toys with our expectations, as structurally the song is more in line with an 80s rock tune than some Ian Anderson contemplation. I won't say the words "power ballad" because the aproposity is nil, but then it's not all that far from that neighborhood either. But I do love this track. For what it's doing, it's doing really well.

"Aproposity" is also not a word. I'm 0 for 2.

The second bonus track is the bubbly amd joyful-sounding "Just Another Day At The Beach", and while it might not quite hang with the "proper" album tracks in terms as album cohesion, it's such a delightful B-side. I love it. It's effervescent! At least it is musically; lyrically, it's a lament over the looming end of a doomed relationship. But oh, delivered with such pep!

Only Passing Through won me over in a single listen, and in the course of this review I've poured over it at least three more times. The album is so entirely engaging and beautiful recorded, sequenced, and rendered, with never a moment of flab or redundancy. If the conceptual theme has been done before, the delivery of it here easily merits the presentation. And that presentation therein succeeds.

Perhaps those looking for more challenging progressive permutations may scoff, whereas those who value easygoing melodic simplicity might be turned off by drastic zigs overtaking expected zags. Eesh. But for those of us somewhere between those two poles, Only Passing Through is a work of beauty, a musical expression that can go from chilling to joyous to pragmatic with harmoniously inventive resolution.