| Esmé Patterson — We Were Wild (June 10, 2016) |
Esmé Patterson — We Were Wild (June 10, 2016) 
≡• Esmé Patterson is a singer/songwriter from Portland, OR. She began as a member of the Denver Folk Pop septet, Paper Bird, and has released two albums as a solo act including 2012’s All Princes, I and 2013’s Woman to Woman.
≡• LP is standard weight, magenta with black & white splatter, includes download card.
Location: Denver, Colorado ~ Portland, OR
Album release: June 10, 2016
Record Label: Grand Jury Music
Duration:
Tracks:
01 Feel Right 2:58
02 No River 2:49
03 Francine 3:41
04 Moth Song 3:36
05 The Waves 2:53
06 Guadalupe 3:51
07 Wantin Ain’t Gettin 2:49
08 Come See Me 2:33
09 We Were Wild 3:12
10 Find It 3:18
11 Yours and Mine 2:47
12 Alone 3:26
℗ 2016 Esmé Patterson under exclusive license to Grand Jury Music
© Esmé Patterson, Night Day, IVW, 2015 01 28 REVIEW BY JONATHAN FRAHM, 10 June 2016; Score: ********
≡• After unraveling popular stories in song and telling them from a refreshed perspective in 2015’s defiant Woman to Woman, Esmé Patterson is already back at it again barely a year later with We Were Wild. The differences between it and the previous year’s concept album are crystalline straight from the start. We Were Wild isn’t a second volume of Woman to Woman, featuring a variety of other songs retold from the viewpoints of established profiles in pop music like Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” or Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean”. Instead, Patterson has readjusted the focus back on herself.
≡• Through her own struggles to shift things back to her own perception after analyzing other artists’ songs so intently on her previous release, she has absolutely made a comeback worthy of celebration. Perhaps We Were Wild could still be called a concept album in a myriad of ways both obvious and not–so–obvious, too. Right away, Patterson embraces the unhinged and undomesticated on the deliciously wily opener, “Feel Right”, which seems to set the tone for an album centered on reminding humanity of its animalistic origins and primal instinct. This thought alone brings a particular irony to Patterson’s choice of cover art for the album, and helps emphasize the sheer strangeness of the rehearsed behavior of humankind as it has developed for itself to follow in the modern world.
≡• It becomes more clear as this perception of the album progresses why Woman to Woman was recorded in a day, while We Were Wild focused on the better portion of a year to fully develop. Returning from the deeply analytical world of retelling popular tales and edging into something more personal can not only be a struggle in regards to a thematic readjustment, but when one successfully achieves just that, the additional time spent to craft a more fully–developed sound in order to sonically relay the groundwork comes across as admirable on Patterson’s part and rewarding to the ears of her audience.
≡• Luckily enough, it’s not just the sound quality that comes across as lush and vibrant on Patterson’s latest. As always, from a vocal perspective, her world–weariness and memorable tone are only topped by an inimitable charm that makes it no wonder as per how she succeeded as the frontwoman for Paper Bird and a recurring duet partner alongside Shakey Graves. Whether she finds herself dealing with the rocking, rollicking edges of her album as with the aforementioned mover–and–shaker, “Feel Right” or “Come and See Me”, or she’s crooning delicately across a countrified ballad like the infectious “Wantin Ain’t Getting”, she knows her way around her voice and her music as well as any pro.
≡• Those who know their way around Esmé Patterson’s growing catalog know to never question her quality. Even then, it’s always a great feeling to happen upon the artist’s next work only to discover that, in a variety of ways, it’s collectively better than her last. Few are as consistently great as Patterson is, and she’s still on a rising scale of quality after having already paid her dues with numerous outstanding projects. We Were Wild is wildly good. ≡• http://www.popmatters.com/
© PHOTO DANIEL TOPETE
Artist Biography by Timothy Monger
≡• Singer/songwriter Esme Patterson is a founding member of the large, Denver–based indie folk group Paper Bird. Growing up in nearby Boulder, Colorado, Patterson, along with her sister and bandmate Genevieve Patterson, grew up listening to old R&B records, coming to folk and Americana music later on. In collaboration with another sibling combo, Mark and Sarah Anderson, the two Patterson sisters formed Paper Bird in 2006, focusing on a mix of chamber folk and lush baroque pop. The group went on to release several successful independent albums, tour frequently, and even score music for the Ballet Nouveau Colorado dance company. Although Patterson had occasionally performed as a solo artist, it wasn’t until 2012 that she had accrued a group of songs she felt weren’t fit for Paper Bird, and she set about making her first solo album, All Princes, I. Inspired by the loose fluidity of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks and Feist’s Metals, the album saw her collaborating with fellow Denverites Nathaniel Rateliff and members of the Czars. In 2013, Paper Bird released their fourth album, Rooms, and Patterson also began writing material for her second solo album, a concept album called Woman to Woman due in the spring of 2014.
Discography:
≡• All Princes, I (Greater Than / Greater Than Collective / MRI)
≡• We Were Wild (Universal Music)
≡• Woman to Woman (Greater Than Collective / Illegal Pete’s)
≡• http://www.allmusic.com/
Website: http://esmepatterson.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EsmePatterson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EsmePattersonMusic
© Author: Devvon Simpson
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| Esmé Patterson — We Were Wild (June 10, 2016) |
≡• LP is standard weight, magenta with black & white splatter, includes download card.
Location: Denver, Colorado ~ Portland, OR
Album release: June 10, 2016
Record Label: Grand Jury Music
Duration:
Tracks:
01 Feel Right 2:58
02 No River 2:49
03 Francine 3:41
04 Moth Song 3:36
05 The Waves 2:53
06 Guadalupe 3:51
07 Wantin Ain’t Gettin 2:49
08 Come See Me 2:33
09 We Were Wild 3:12
10 Find It 3:18
11 Yours and Mine 2:47
12 Alone 3:26
℗ 2016 Esmé Patterson under exclusive license to Grand Jury Music
≡• After unraveling popular stories in song and telling them from a refreshed perspective in 2015’s defiant Woman to Woman, Esmé Patterson is already back at it again barely a year later with We Were Wild. The differences between it and the previous year’s concept album are crystalline straight from the start. We Were Wild isn’t a second volume of Woman to Woman, featuring a variety of other songs retold from the viewpoints of established profiles in pop music like Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” or Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean”. Instead, Patterson has readjusted the focus back on herself.
≡• Through her own struggles to shift things back to her own perception after analyzing other artists’ songs so intently on her previous release, she has absolutely made a comeback worthy of celebration. Perhaps We Were Wild could still be called a concept album in a myriad of ways both obvious and not–so–obvious, too. Right away, Patterson embraces the unhinged and undomesticated on the deliciously wily opener, “Feel Right”, which seems to set the tone for an album centered on reminding humanity of its animalistic origins and primal instinct. This thought alone brings a particular irony to Patterson’s choice of cover art for the album, and helps emphasize the sheer strangeness of the rehearsed behavior of humankind as it has developed for itself to follow in the modern world.
≡• It becomes more clear as this perception of the album progresses why Woman to Woman was recorded in a day, while We Were Wild focused on the better portion of a year to fully develop. Returning from the deeply analytical world of retelling popular tales and edging into something more personal can not only be a struggle in regards to a thematic readjustment, but when one successfully achieves just that, the additional time spent to craft a more fully–developed sound in order to sonically relay the groundwork comes across as admirable on Patterson’s part and rewarding to the ears of her audience.
≡• Luckily enough, it’s not just the sound quality that comes across as lush and vibrant on Patterson’s latest. As always, from a vocal perspective, her world–weariness and memorable tone are only topped by an inimitable charm that makes it no wonder as per how she succeeded as the frontwoman for Paper Bird and a recurring duet partner alongside Shakey Graves. Whether she finds herself dealing with the rocking, rollicking edges of her album as with the aforementioned mover–and–shaker, “Feel Right” or “Come and See Me”, or she’s crooning delicately across a countrified ballad like the infectious “Wantin Ain’t Getting”, she knows her way around her voice and her music as well as any pro.
≡• Those who know their way around Esmé Patterson’s growing catalog know to never question her quality. Even then, it’s always a great feeling to happen upon the artist’s next work only to discover that, in a variety of ways, it’s collectively better than her last. Few are as consistently great as Patterson is, and she’s still on a rising scale of quality after having already paid her dues with numerous outstanding projects. We Were Wild is wildly good. ≡• http://www.popmatters.com/
Artist Biography by Timothy Monger
≡• Singer/songwriter Esme Patterson is a founding member of the large, Denver–based indie folk group Paper Bird. Growing up in nearby Boulder, Colorado, Patterson, along with her sister and bandmate Genevieve Patterson, grew up listening to old R&B records, coming to folk and Americana music later on. In collaboration with another sibling combo, Mark and Sarah Anderson, the two Patterson sisters formed Paper Bird in 2006, focusing on a mix of chamber folk and lush baroque pop. The group went on to release several successful independent albums, tour frequently, and even score music for the Ballet Nouveau Colorado dance company. Although Patterson had occasionally performed as a solo artist, it wasn’t until 2012 that she had accrued a group of songs she felt weren’t fit for Paper Bird, and she set about making her first solo album, All Princes, I. Inspired by the loose fluidity of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks and Feist’s Metals, the album saw her collaborating with fellow Denverites Nathaniel Rateliff and members of the Czars. In 2013, Paper Bird released their fourth album, Rooms, and Patterson also began writing material for her second solo album, a concept album called Woman to Woman due in the spring of 2014.
Discography:
≡• All Princes, I (Greater Than / Greater Than Collective / MRI)
≡• We Were Wild (Universal Music)
≡• Woman to Woman (Greater Than Collective / Illegal Pete’s)
≡• http://www.allmusic.com/
Website: http://esmepatterson.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EsmePatterson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EsmePattersonMusic
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