BREATHING

"Breathing" is the fourth full-length studio album by Swedish progressive rock act Paatos. The album was released through Glassville Records in February 2011. It´s the successor to "Silence of Another Kind" from 2006, although the two studio albums are bridged by the 2007 "Sensors" live album. The latter was recorded while touring in support of Porcupine Tree and after the tour, Paatos went on a longer hiatus during which bassist Stefan Dimle and keyboard player Johan Wallén left the band. Upon reuniting Paatos replaced Dimle with Ulf "Rockis" Ivarsson. Wallén wasn´t replaced and therefore all keyboards/piano were recorded by guitarist Peter Nylander (who also plays some trombone and bansuri on the album).

Stylistically the material on "Breathing" continue the melancholic female led progressive rock of the last couple of releases. The focus is mainly on Petronella Nettermalm beautiful voice and strong emotional delivery, but there are some great instrumental performances here too. I will mention the drumming by Ricard "Huxflux" Nettermalm as pretty exceptional, but the many grand keyboards/synths and the organic sounding guitars and bass are also great assets to the band´s music. The instrumentalists manage to keep the songs interesting although most are in a relatively regular vers/chorus format.

"Breathing" features a powerful, organic, and detailed sound production, which suits the material perfectly, and upon conclusion it´s through and through a high quality release. Paatos have a relatively unique sound and they should be praised for that. Hitting the balance between progressive rock sensibilities and alternative/indie/post-rock ideas isn´t easy, and they master that to perfection. The cold Scandinavian mood of the music is maybe slightly one-dimensional for the duration of a 50 minutes long album, but on the other hand that´s also the attraction of Paatos. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.