Brooklyn’s Paul Holmes has been plugging away for a few years now, but with The Patients and To The Lions EP, he may finally be getting the recognition he’s due. The mix of alt, country, and just plain rock is strong and surprisingly catchy on the debut EP, as well as nicely diverse. It all makes you wonder where Paul & The Patients can possibly go from here.
Opener “Complaint 15” is some epic-heart country-rock, but the twang gives it a hook that you weren’t expecting. That surprise hook is a hallmark of To The Lions, as the following “Well Done You World” finds it through some neat echo-twang on guitar. Even more unusual is actually how endearing and enjoyable the stop/start, high/low, stripped/rock “The Other Side” is.
But P&P don’t have to surprise to be good. Middle track “Blogspot” is some absolutely perfect Beatles-esque country-rock, both catchy and sad. And finisher “Black Beards” changes things up by bringing a dark procession that is a nice change from the rest of the EP, and evocative in its own right.
Signed by American Myth, the same new Brooklyn label that put out Self-Taught Learner EP (QRO review) the already-hyping Lissy Trullie, one can only hope Paul & The Patients get that kind of attention. Because To The Lions EP deserves it.
