Record Review - Brandon Patton: Underhill Downs

Though his debut Should Confusion was released near the beginning of the decade, Staten Island, N.Y., singer/songwriter Brandon Patton didn't put out his second album, Underhill Downs, until now, owing to his steady gig as bassist for nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot. Patton's music doesn't have hip-hop beats or sci-fi references. Rather, Underhill Downs is heavy on acoustic guitar and computer-effect driven atmosphere. The album is full of smoothly produced, heavily overdubbed tracks that vary between lovely, sad and slow ("Look Up" features a chant of "worry, sleep, worry more") and lovely, sad and slightly less slow (on "Ashes and Stains" the narrator wonders, "When will my life start to imitate art?"). Though inspired by the unraveling of a long-term relationship, the album doesn't trade in self-pity, and Patton often seems to be attempting to dig himself out of an emotional hole with these songs. No telling if it worked, but as art the album succeeds. (Merlin Pool Music) 4 stars out of 5