This four track collection of nicely turned guitar tunes from THE PATTERN THEORY is a real pleasure. The immediate and pretty overwhelming reference point is TORTOISE. There are rippling, soft-knuckled Bundy K. Brown bass lines. The near-jazz feel (with funky little tunes that sit right there in your head) is minimalist cool, ringing with optimism and counterpoint. I can imagine Robert Fripp enjoying this stuff on his mellow days.
DON CABALLERO imprints are there too among their sources but THE PATTERN THEORY are emerging in their own right as something a bit special. There is a very lithe rhythm section (James Yates, drums and Danny Laycock, bass) and two well-matched guitarists. (Carl Carlson and Lukas Creswell-Rost). They play together with a relaxed sympathy and a sense of adventure in taking on some fairly tricky compositions. It’s very assured stuff (they call it Post-Surf) and it’s not surprising to read that they are students at Leeds College of Music.
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As an EP, the four tracks make a single flowing statement, an extended work of a little under 15 minutes. The titles are "Lakes", "Trees", "Cities", and "Fields" with something of the mood of each environment unobtrusively captured in the music. I must have played it a dozen times and I'm still getting little bursts of pleasure. It's gentle on the ear, but it ventures a long way beyond incidental or mood music.
It 's going to be very interesting to see where THE PATTERN THEORY take this stuff. I'm keen to see a live performance. And there's no way that the (very nicely packaged) EP is going to be filed away in the big review boxes in the cellar. This one is staying upstairs with the quality.
www.myspace.com/thepatterntheory
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