Album Review: Pattern Seeking Animals - Prehensile Tales

The first album from Pattern Seeking Animals is one I didn't see the need for. Made up of members of Spock's Beard, and masterminded by a guy who has written a lot of songs for that band, it felt and sounded like another Spock's Beard album, just without one of the original members. Otherwise, this band did not do enough to differentiate themselves, as they said would be obvious. That leads me to think there might be some issues behind the scenes that necessitated this move, but that would be speculation. Regardless, album number two not only needs to be better than the debut, but needs to create more of an identity for this group. They can't go on being 'that other Spock's Beard'.

"Raining Hard In Heaven" kicks things off with the bass up front in the mix, driving the groove. When the keyboards finally start to swirl, and the way the melody is written, the song carries a heavy 80s vibe. There's some nice elements to it, but the chorus finds Ted Leonard flatly singing the title repeatedly, which is a complete disappointment. That kind of repetition is lazy, and especially from a prog band. Isn't prog supposed to be heady, intellectual, and complex? This song is an attempt at an eight minute pop song, but it's not hooky enough for that to work.

The album then crawls along with "Here In My Autumn" which is another eight minutes of soft keyboards, wandering music, and not much in the way of rock, hooks, or energy. It becomes clear that the difference between Pattern Seeking Animals and Spock's Beard is that this new group rocks far less. And with several of these songs clocking in between eight and seventeen minutes, that lack of energy is right at the forefront. This thing is a slog to get through unless you are a die-hard prog fan who doesn't think a song needs any kind of structure or memorable moment to be good. I've used the term 'dad prog' before, and this is the embodiment of it.

"Elegant Vampires" has some potential, with a neat atmosphere and some unusual sounds in the mix, but it's another song with very little in the way of a melody. The main hook of the song is the keyboard line, and it's not good enough to make up for the awkwardness of the rest of the song. Not by a long shot. The more these songs play out, the more I understand why this band needs to exist. It sounds to my ears like the power in Spock's Beard doesn't think this sort of material is good enough, and doesn't want to take that group down this road. I don't blame them. The last couple of Spock's albums haven't been great, but they've been more lively than this.

That makes the seventeen minute "Lifeboat" nearly intolerable. It takes forever to get going, and even then lopes along at a leisurely clip. I found my attention drifting away often, because there isn't anything in the songwriting to keep me focused. It's all utterly bland, tuneless music that is merely 'nice'. That gets old very fast.

Look, this isn't offensive, but I can't lie and tell you I enjoyed it either. There is nothing memorable about this album whatsoever. It exists, and that's about as much as I can say.