Inner Ear

Featured Review: Patrick Park - Everyone's In Everyone (2007)
Click on the album cover to purchase the album

Tracklist:
1. Life Is A Song
2. Time For Moving On
3. Here We Are
4. Stay With Me Tomorrow
5. Arrive Like A Whisper
6. Nothing's Lost
7. Pawn Song
8. Saint With A Fever
9. One Body Breaks
10. There's A Darkness
11. Everyone's In Everyone


Patrick Park's long-awaited sophomore album "Everyone's In Everyone" finally arrived. Four years after his astonishing debut album, he presents us this new album with 11 great songs. Some of these we have heard before on "Mondays In Spaceland" (live album) or on the "Stickbirdsongs EP", but also we get some brand new gems.


Life Is A Song, maybe Patrick's best known song to date, opens the CD. Patrick sings this song with a passion and conviction that makes you really experience the song and open your eyes to what's around you. And did I mention it is catchy? It would make a perfect single.


The second song on this album is Time For Moving On kinda places me in the pub when I'm listening to it. The melancholic melody gives me an image of coming to realize it's time to move on while drinking a stout in the pub on the corner of the street. It's great how a song can put you somewhere.


Here We Are is a definite single. It's possibly the best song on the album. After listening to it halfway through I already found myself singing along. And another thing that happened to me while listening to it was a realization of 'what the.. this guy is right, where in God's name are we heading in this world?'. Patrick's music really makes you realize that not everything's all great, but that we have to deal with it. But also not to let go of hope.


The only way to describe Stay With Me Tomorrow is by the word 'amazing'. This is just a brilliant song. Pure genius singer/songwriter. Don't think I need to say more.


Arrive Like A Whisper is a song I wish I had while growing up. I think I just would've felt so much better with someone telling me something like this. Just face it. And to deliver a message like that in a beautiful tune with great guitar work (had to mention that), is just great.


In Nothing's Lost we hear something of the Patrick Park from "Loneliness Knows My Name". It sort of has the same swing to it. But don't get me wrong. It also fits perfectly on "Everyone's In Everyone". It's a great, laid-back song, which would fit perfectly on a movie soundtrack.


Next up is Pawn Song which once again shows that Patrick is not only a very gifted singer/songwriter but also a very skilled guitar player. On Pawn Song Patrick ventures into a little more alternative direction, and it almost sounds like classic folk/rock from the early 70s. Yet he still manages to give the song that little something that makes it a typical Patrick Park song.


The moody Saint With A Fever, which was also on his live album, is the next song on "Everyone's In Everyone". It is just really impressive. It doesn't sound like anything from this time. Maybe somewhere in between Grateful Dead & Elliot Smith. And once again great guitar skills. Personally, I can't get enough of this.


One Body Breaks, the next song on the album, has a slightly more poppy sound to it and is a little more uptempo. And there's some great keys in it. Vocally one of the most impressive tracks on the album. It has a little country feel to it, a la John Denver, but it also reminds me of a folky version of Ben Folds or even Elton John at times.


The stripped down There's A Darkness is next, and Patrick's astonishing vocals remind me of Danish band Saybia, with the higher soulful sound, dipping in melancholy. One more time I have to make the comparison with Elliot Smith and Leonard Cohen. Patrick stands on the shoulders of these giants in the singer/songwriter genre, but he really is on the verge of bringing this genre back to life.


The album ends with the title track Everyone's In Everyone which is a suiting end to this collection of songs. With a message that no matter what we are, who we are, where we are, or what we do, we're all the same, once again Patrick makes us realize what's happening. I think he said it best himself: "We are blessed, but we are restless, we are dumb and we are wise, and we are young, and we are old and see the world through tired eyes." But let me add that we hear "Everyone's In Everyone" through ears that are waiting for more!


"Everyone's In Everyone" is more stripped down than its predecessor, but it is in no way inferior. Patrick's vocals may sound even better than on "Loneliness" and he shows growth in his songwriting. More and more he finds a place where he can shine as the brilliant singer/songwriter that he is. With beautiful tracks like Here We Are, Stay With Me Tomorrow, Arrive Like A Whisper, Saint With A Fever, & There's A Darkness, Patrick Park is right where you want him to be. Bravo!