by Bob Keeley
John Boegehold, the writer for most Pattern-Seeking Animals songs, is a productive guy. He says that once an album is recorded and even before it is completely mastered, he starts writing for the next one. Consequently, Boegehold and his partners in P-SA have released five albums in five years. their fifth, Friend of All Creatures, due on February 14.
The title comes from a line in the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu scripture said to have been written over 2000 years ago. The line shows up in chapter 5 verse 29, at the end of a passage about the purification of the mind. While Friend of All Creatures is not a concept album, the idea of reflecting on one’s life, something akin to the point of chapter 5 in the Gita, is a theme that shows up frequently in the seven songs.
The opener, “Future Perfect World” is a good example. It features a nearly two-minute instrumental opener, with Boegehold’s keyboards front and center, before singer Ted Leonard begins to sing about moving through life into the future. One of the really interesting things in this song is that Leonard shifts from singing in the first person (“Now I walk through fields of clover…”) to third person (“Then one day he left home…”) This shift is accompanied by a shift in the music, but it is lyrically complex with the third person narrator (“Late at night he counts stars”) being interrupted by the first person (“I can’t go back, I can’t go back home.”) It is reminiscent of a Greek Chorus commenting on the action and finally ending with the line “toward the place the future’s born” repeated a number of times. The music is tuneful and fascinating with clear sections that change to fit the text. It serves as an interesting way to open the album.
“Another Holy Grail,” the second track and longest song on the album, features a number of interesting time signatures as Leonard gently sings about “things we cannot see.” Leonard, who is known mostly as a singer (although he was the utility keyboard/guitar player for Transatlantic on their last two tours) plays some nice guitar solos as the mellow tone of the song shifts to something much bigger. This sprawling track moves from one movement to another as they reflect on how life is a film with “ever changing scenes” filled with “actors reading scripts with missing pages.” One of the strengths of Boegehold’s songs are that, even with all the shifts in tone and time signature, the melodies remain strong and hold our attention.
A couple of shorter songs take us through the bulk of the rest of the album with hooks that are almost instantly recognizable. “The final line of the chorus to “In My Dying Days” is so catchy that you’ll find yourself singing along before the song is done on your first listen. Violin adds a nice touch to this song giving it a definite Kansas vibe. Could this be one of the songs Boegehold wrote for Kansas that they didn’t use? But in addition to the hooks you’ll find some surprises as well.
“Days We’ll Remember” is a song that appeared on the bonus disc of Spock’s Beard’s Noise Floor album which has been reworked for P-SA. The chorus has a lilting almost Celtic quality in 6/8 time that reminds us of something that we must have heard before.
The finale, “Words of Love Evermore,” is a great example of what makes this album so enjoyable. The melody is engaging, the playing is great with Jimmy Keegan on drums and Dave Meros holding down the bottom end on bass, and there are enough melodic and tempo twists and turns to keep us guessing and interested. When Leonard sings about seeking enlightenment, “one day I’m gonna stare into the sun till it burns our all these cobwebs…” the music soars in just the way you want it to.
Friend of All Creatures is a fine addition to the Pattern-Seeking Animals catalog.
Released on Feb 14th, 2025 on GEP Records
Tracklisting:
1. Future Perfect World
2. Another Holy Grail
3. Down the Darkest Road
4. In My Dying Days
5. The Seventh Sleeper
6. Days We’ll Remember
7. Words of Love Evermore
John Boegehold – Keyboards
Ted Leonard – Vocals, Guitars
Dave Meros – Bass
Jimmy Keegan – Drums
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