album: Be Happy
reviews:
Empire UK
With their latest release, a concise 10-track collection titled
with, one hopes, a glimmer of irony, Be Happy, perennial L.A. combo
[Patrolled By Radar] distance themselves yet further from the Alt
Country label that they’ve sported somewhat uncomfortably since they
ventured onto the scene some eleven years and four albums ago.
As labels go, Americana is even vaguer than Alt Country but at least
it suggests a broader canvass, which is useful in this case. It also
evokes plenty of evocative stuff like crackly valve radios,
roadhouse crooners, bad whisky and worse women, all of which
resonate fulsomely throughout Be Happy, an album riven with enough
heartache, yearning and pain to satisfy the most die-hard C&W fans.
It also retains the band’s notorious balance of crunch and twang -
thunderous drums, rock solid bass and guitars that jangle and shred
in harmonious accord.
But it’s obvious that frontman and songwriter Jay Souza looks
farther afield for his inspiration than Nashville - or, indeed, the
United States. It’s not uncommon to read comments like “Johnny Cash
meets The Beatles” in [Patrolled By Radar] reviews, and they do have
some currency. There is, in the sly lyrics and brisk song
structures, echoes of classic Britpop that, to these ears at least,
recalls The Kinks and The Who more readily than The Beatles.
That said, Be Happy never strays far from its roots, which are
firmly planted in the American heartland. Be Happy is [Patrolled By
Radar's] most ambitious and satisfying album by far, a culmination
of fully matured songwriting, superb musicianship and a confident
and unique blend of styles. And the only label you need for that is
damn fine rock and roll.
Simon Braund
Jake Leg News (JLN)
The hallmark of [Patrolled By Radar's] decade long career has always
been the honesty and sincerity of their songs, and on "Carried
Away,” the [eighth] track of their latest album “Be Happy,” frontman
Jay Souza sings the most self aware line of his entire career:
“Everybody’s lookin’ for the thing they were meant to do/ I’ll sit
and sing a lonesome song.”
This record is the one they have been destined to make. It’s a quiet
and reserved meditation on discontentment, heartbreak and death
written with wit and clarity which takes incomprehensible and
conflicting emotions and gives them voice. There is nothing light or
simple about these songs. There are no anthems or power ballads,
nothing that resembles the mindless, disposable pop so prevalent on
modern airwaves.
The closest it comes to a love song is the opening track about a
fall down drunk who is “takin’ a shine to the widow next door.” The
narrator of the title track confesses to the object of his affection
that he loves her “for lack of a better word,” a romantic
proclamation that meets with less then successful results. Even the
album’s title comes off as ironic, a generic bumper sticker
affirmation that presides over a pensive and thoughtful collection
of lyrics.
Yet under all the wry smiles and wordplay there flows a current of
loss and sadness. What emerges is a record that is a reflection on
the past and a gaze into an uncertain future. The [third] track,
“Dressed For The Drought” deftly examines the disillusionment of The
Bush Years not with canned rage and hysteria but quiet frustration.
A similar sentiment is echoed in a line from Pachyderm: “You are
waving at catastrophe/ Well the same goes for me/ We are eager to be
gun-shy.” “Coat of Disappointment” grieves over a lost love, while
“Fast Life, Slow Death” mourns the rest of the path.
The entire look inward finally coalesces into “Carried Away,”
wherein Souza spells out his destiny over Bosco Sheff’s haunting
steel guitar. Then comes the closer, “New Fight Song,” the defiant
counterpoint to the proceeding songs, a guitar driven rocker with a
chorus that urges the listener to fall in love and “write the words
to a new fight song.” It’s a brave and rewarding choice, one that
says a little soul-searching is essential but to never give up the
battle.
Underlining all of this is some of the best music the band has ever
played. Drummer Mark Bennington and bassist Bryan Stone play with
dazzling subtlety, crafting a pocket that never seems flashy or
intrusive but rather breezes casually into each song like a soft
wind. BC Coulter’s jangling guitar provides a magnificent backdrop
to Bosco Sheff’s slides and steels, giving Sheff the freedom to play
some of his most reserved yet rewarding music to date.
Producer Peter Curry adds hints of cello and accordion throughout
the record, creating a deep and beautiful landscape of music where
sounds drift in and out like thoughts in a ponderous mind.
[Patrolled By Radar] has always had a way with writing songs that
felt genuine and human. At a time when contemporary music is crafted
to be used for a jingle or a movie soundtrack, “Be Happy” plays like
an old pal sitting at the next bar stool, each song a knowing and
reassuring pat on the shoulder.
Kurt Godwin
The Open Road-KCRW
Wowza for Jay Souza. [Patrolled By Radar] is a great band with
terrific songs. Bang and twang!
Gary Calamar (Music Supervisor) GO Music Services
