Patrick Park
Loneliness Knows My Name
Hollywood
Patrick Park’s debut EP held great promises, but no one could reasonably have expected him to come up with such an outstanding first full-length as this one. While Loneliness Knows My Name represents the more elaborately arranged side of that first EP, the music leans less towards 1970s soft pop and more towards blue-collared singer-songwriter folk music. Not that Park has changed his musical direction altogether, but the focus has shifted in tune with the fuller instrumentation, and he sounds ever more like an independent artist with something important on his mind.
His voice is as strong and direct as it’s humble and passionate. But it’s his songwriting that really sets this apart. Mournful but unsentimental, strong but impassioned, these songs prove that ex-punker Park is finally starting to find his musical footing. Mixing equal parts Paul Westerberg and Elliott Smith, Park has come up with an immensely sad yet wonderfully endearing album. An amazing first full-length disc, even better than his first EP suggested. And that’s saying a lot.
Patrick Park: http://www.patrickpark.net/