Description
FORMAT: USB DRIVE, DIGITAL ALBUM (mp3), housed in wearable rubber wristband
TRACK LIST
- Scorch
- Say Nothing and Run
- Nature of the Beast
- Viceroy
- Unsurpassed
- Curve
- The Cat Fight
- Labyrinth
- Lyrebird
- Dangerous Things
- You & Your Shadow
personnel
All songs by Beth Patterson (© 2013, Speak Jolly Music, BMI)
Beth Patterson: lead and backing vocals, eight and ten string bouzoukis,
electric bouzouki, bass guitar, English horn, piano, synthesizer, Mellotron,
bodhran, assorted percussion
Lu Rojas: drum programming, synthesizer on Viceroy, Labyrinth, Dangerous
Things, and Curve; guitars on Scorch, Dangerous Things, Nature of the
Beast, and Unsurpassed
Ben Alleman: Mellotron and Hammond organ on You and Your Shadow,
Unsurpassed, Nature of the Beast, Lyrebird, and Scorch
Choir on Curve: Shannon DelCorral, Hakeem Blackstone, Ally Krouse,
Dre Vappie, and Taylor Vigee
Reviewed in OffBeat
Dan Willging (July 2014 Issue)
There’s a million ways to listen music these days so leave it to Beth Patterson to concoct another. Her latest full-length offering is not available on CD or even vinyl but alternatively on a blue, cause-style, elastic wristband where the latch is really a jump drive containing both MP3’s and M3U’s of all original material and a PDF of the lyrics. You can listen to it using your computer or car’s USB port or, for old-schoolers, burn it to disc and print the cover and back trey using the templates provided.
Ingenious, isn’t it? But so is the music that stands tall on its own merit, even without the elastic curiosity.
As the title suggests, there’s a theme of moving forward with one’s life by shedding weight-dragging baggage. Some songs are optimistic (“Lyrebird”) or about falling in love (“Say Nothing and Run Free”); others (“Scorch”) feel cathartic in nature. “Unsurpassed” symbolizes triumph by not caving in just because it’s easier.
Though the arrangements vary from ancient-sounding Celtic folk to carefully crafted modern rockers and combinations therein between (“Lyrebird” is a Bo Didley beat-calypso blend), nothing ever encumbers Patterson’s sterling, commanding vocals to deliver heady, imagery-filled messages. The instrumental “Cat Fight” offers somewhat of a mental respite by showcasing Patterson’s bouzouki virtuosity with a traditional An Dro, a Breton dance, followed by an amped-up, rockier jig.
Even though it’s not available on conventional media, dynamite still comes in small packages.
