Although the name Patrick is not that common among Latvians, it has suddenly appeared in the majority in music. There is Patriks Pētersons or Patriks Peterson – the son of the Latvian “Elvis Presley” Ivars Pētersons, Elvis Patriks Pētersons, who has already gained a lot of recognition both by participating in “Supernova” and with several successful hits and their video clips.
There is also Patriks Tabaks, or Patrick Tabaks, who released his debut album “Lost My Mind” last year, and who made a mark this year as one of the main actors in Jānis Lūsēns’ musical “Zvaigznes ļīts”.
But now another Patrick has appeared, who is not the Patrick who is Peterson, and not even the Patrick who is Tabak, but a completely different Patrick. Got it? Clearly not… How these young people (especially this Patrick III in question) think of strengthening their identity in the public space, that is already their problem.
The only thing known about this Patrick is that “Penumbra” is his debut album, which consists of ten songs and was made for about two and a half years. The musician plans to perform his new sound material with his band at concerts this summer (these plans were announced before the summer, but nothing has been heard about their realization…), so maybe there will be an opportunity to learn something more about him. “Penumbra” is a concept album consisting of two parts, the unifying motif of which is love. “Penumbra” is a progressive story of two people whose love grows, develops, goes through difficulties and stays afloat until the moment of breaking, when all imaginations, feelings, beliefs and habits change like day to night. The word “penumbra” is translated from English as a penumbra, or the area formed between light and shadow. This name refers to the emotional stage a person enters at the end of a relationship, between the light that lies behind and the darkness that lies ahead,” explains Patrick.
Regarding the stylistic direction – “r&b”, “soul”, “neo soul”, alternative pop, etc., but as his sources of influence Patrick calls such foreign “stars” as Frank Ocean, “Bon Iver”, “Local Natives”, Joji, James Blake, Rex Orange County, Still Woozy, Tom Misch, Mac Miller, Anderson .Paak and more.
PAR. Quality work, for which the author deserves praise. The guy has described his stylistic orientation precisely – it is really “r&b”, “neo soul” and alternative pop, which is not so often noticeable in the performances of domestic performers. The best songs – the album opening “Gruvie”, the beautiful “Wait For Me”, the somewhat enigmatic “Running” and for some reason the stylish synthpop piece “Giving Up” stuck at the very end of the album.
AGAINST. Unfortunately, the already mentioned stylistic mix is not in demand in Latvia, as Patrick will have to work hard to be able to feed his “Penumbra” to Latvian listeners, while beyond the borders of our country there are many performers of this type. But that’s not the biggest downside of this album – it just doesn’t excite. Not at all.
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