I recent album release from Patchwork Dots brings out a series of rock soundscapes that come together and inevitably bring out this sort of vast and personal desert rock approach that feels genuine and has this particular aesthetic attached to it that feels nailed and everything about it has such a lush and almost fantastical element to it that draws you in.
The A Little Bit of Make Believe album boasts a very particular character and persona and is built with catchy progressions performed on both acoustic and electric guitars along with vocals that have a wonderful vibrato to them and give them this unique sound and this quickly becomes part of the staple feel of the record.
The guitar work across this record is outstanding and very inventive in terms of texture and warmth but so were the entire songs themselves and the arrangements and compositions are built with great attention to detail, but the songs never lose that character or that heart.
You could hear some classic rock influence, some hard rock influence, and even folk popping through at times here and there and I think all of this has this sort of pop overtone to it that adds a color and different texture to the vibes of the songs and makes them more full body than fun.
I love the surprises that lurk around the corners of some of these songs and how some of that guitar work is actually outside the box and beckons this sort of 90s underground alternative rock approach.
The vocals are one of the best attributes of this record because at times vocals are used in the background just as instruments themselves and they sort of float through the ether and add layers to the songs.
By the time you get halfway through this album you realize that you can start to expect a little bit of the unexpected but what you do know is that you're going to have some great guitar riffs and certainly sections of chorus or hooks that end up sticking with you for hours after the songs have ended.
The smart thing about that is, in order to satiate that feeling you have to listen to the songs again and I think that's a brilliant thing.
You can tell the guitar playing is really upfront when it comes to the performance of these songs but the way the full songs are put together and the energy level that's captured on is almost like a live performance at times where players feel like they're feeding off of each other's energy the entire time.
So, you get these different vibes per song and even though several tracks stick out well as singles, that's how it's meant to be soaked in.
This doesn't actually feel like a full-on concept record to me, but there are interconnections between the songs and there's a certain flow of the record as well and there's thought that goes into those things.
Listening to the full album is more like an experience than just listening to a record and this is something that I've missed for a long time because we live in such a single-based society these days that a lot of people don't release full albums anymore.
So, when a project like Patchwork Dots comes along and releases an album that you are supposed to listen to the full way through it gives me a little hint of nostalgia and that feels good.
This was a very well-woven record that was done with inventive guitar work, outside-the-box arrangement, and an almost live energy.
I would suggest listening to this one with headphones on if you can or listening to it in the car so you could start singing along by the third chorus of half of these tracks.