I’m glad Trails and Ways aren’t another depressing wannabe-Smiths
indie band. I’m also depressed that it’s taken me until September to give this
album a listen when it could have been fuelling my summer.
Pathology is music
for dancing on the beach to. Sewn into the band’s breezy rock sound are jaunty flecks
of funk and lilts of Latin that transport the listen to foreign white sands. Vocalists
Keith Brower Brown and Hannah Van Loon meanwhile provide a winning male/female
combo, singing breathily over the dainty instrumentation. Lyrics dabble in
Portuguese, which might sound pretentious but instead only adds to the exotic,
sunny feel of the album.
The tempo is pretty similar throughout which leads to a
certain degree of sameyness, but there’s enough dynamics in the texture of each
song to counteract this. Songs like ‘Mtn Tune’ are more flamenco-influenced,
whilst ‘Heavy Sleeper’ has more of a dreamy warped power-ballad feel.
Entirely bedroom-produced, Pathology manages to sound glossy and anything but amateurish. Let’s
hope these guys can become more than the local Cali band they are at the moment and attract the ears of listeners
worldwide as they justly deserve.
★★★★☆
TRACK TASTER: