Shelter from Patlansky

 Dan Patlansky                                  Shelter of Bones (2022)

 

A new Patlansky album drops every few years and the question is: why? He is a technically gifted guitarist and knows how to write a riff and arrange a chord progression and must believe that he ought to keep on writing songs and releasing records for the sake of his career, but apart from fully leaving straight ahead blues behind and shifting to a tough blues rock sound, there hasn’t been much innovation in his music over the past decade. Worse, the songs on the various albums are kind of interchangeable and none of them are memorable. All too often the opening riff is the best, most catching part of the track and then it’s just more of the same, with his gruff, sincere vocal style and proficient fretwork that prove that technical ability alone cannot evoke a visceral, emotional response in the listener.

 

Here we have more muscular riffing and gruff vocals, blues based solos and some ghostly Stevie Ray Vaughan echoes in Patlansky’s patented technically slick style of bombastic blues rock.  You’ve got to admire his industry and skill but by now the style has become so entrenched, that the contents of each album come and go without much impact because he’s not a quirky enough songwriter and doesn’t have much gift for vocal melody.  

Having said that, the slow, soul ballads “Lost” and “Sweet Memories” are the best tracks on the record. The title track is philosophically introspective, oddly reminiscent of the Arno Carstens style and obviously intended to be a major statement to conclude the album and quite affecting, though also a tad lyrically clichéd.  For the rest, the arrangements and riffs are respectively intricate and powerful but there are no memorable hooks and very little sticks in the mind once one is done listening.

Patlansky obviously works hard at his career and may be commended for that but surely won’t be remembered  for writing and recording a body of iconic, classic tunes. He’s not a genius musician, has no intriguing musical quirks and relies too much on how well he plays the guitar.  Some people are dazzled by lengthy, intricate solos with an avalanche of notes and licks but when the songs they’re supposed to serve aren’t strong enough, the virtuosity  eventually grates rather than gratifies.

Patlansky loyalists would like this album and neophytes might as well buy this release, instead of earlier releases, to bring them up to speed on the Patlansky sound, and then never need buy any other.  Shelter of Bones is not particularly enjoyable, and is unnecessary and disposable.