Pattern Is Movement
The (Im)possibility of Longing
Noreaster
Pattern is Movement takes their name very seriously. On their full-length debut, The (Im)Possibility of Longing, they take hundreds of musical patterns and combine them into one strange, cohesive and addictive movement that has a musical storyline.
The first song, “Non Servium,” displays just how complex their sound is by seamlessly jumping from fast to slow, like a much tamer version of System of a Down.
“Pika Doun” and “I Should Be Leaving” take one guitar riff and build monumental tracks that incorporate the complex rhythms of multiple guitars and percussive instruments with a few electronic blips that sound like the CD is scratched (which it’s not, I checked) and sparse lyrics that make these two tracks alone the equivalent of eating until you can’t move. There is so much going on that it is “(im)possible” (sorry, I had to) to take it all in at once.
One of the great things about this album is that there is no space between tracks. Pattern is Movement takes each song and concept right into the next song to connect each track and create an album with a story. That story is of a protagonist who loses hope in the world around him.
“Julius” is the best example of how this protagonist begins his existential downward spiral. The track begins with a pulsing bass drum and the line, “The fault is partly mine/ I’ll take the blame/ Cause it makes me better.” That line is repeated as it crescendos into the song’s only other line, “They are so confused/ It’s them that can’t see.” Just as the music reaches its climax, the interlude “All Things Well” begins, leading into “Pika Doun,” which then leads into the “War Interlude,” which leads into…well you get the point.
With each subsequent listen, the storyline of The (Im)Possibility of Longing becomes much more vivid. This is not an album to play as background music at a party. Pattern is Movement begs to be studied like a book. Give this album a try and stick with it for a while. Before you know it, you too will understand the story. Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Thiboldeaux said that “We wanted this record to touch a part of the listener that they didn’t know was there all along.” They do just that. And once you find it, you’ll wonder what you ever did without it.
Pattern is Movement: http://www.patternismovement.com
