BREATHING

It's amazing that 5 years have passed already since the previous Paatos album. And despite the passing of years the band still operates in relative obscurity, being stuck with a Prog tag that does them more bad then good IMO. If someone would just promote them as an indie band they might easily reach the larger crowds following bands such as Elbow. Certainly with a strong album such as this 'Breathing' as their ambassador.

Paatos seems to have fully focused on the songwriting this time, and next from the debut, this is the Paatos album that doesn't have any lows or lulls. What I'm probably missing a bit is a real high. I can't immediately spot tracks here with an awesomeness to match older classics such as 'Sensor', 'Hypnotique', 'Tea' or 'Gasoline'. The musicianship is brilliant, exactly as I like it, very accomplished and with brilliant arrangements, intelligent virtuosity and touches of jazzyness, but without any unneeded guitar solos or keyboard runs. Petronella's voice has never sounded better, putting a lot of variation and heart in her performance.

Overall a strong ambassador for modern prog/rock/indie that deserves a larger audience.