"We are the lucky ones, your mother's daughters, your father's sons,"
Patrick Park sings in the early innings of his third studio album,
Come What Will, and while those words are married to a minor-key melody that's sweet and dour at the same time, it somehow seems to fit just right. There's an undertow of quiet determination to
Come What Will even in its frequent downbeat moments, and
Park's songs point to a light at the end of the tunnel that may be faint but doesn't seem to be an oncoming train, either. A good share of the album's tone comes from
Park's vocals; he's been blessed with an instrument that's bright but rich, and it carries his lyrics with a strength that belies its flexibility. The ten songs
Park wrote for
Come What Will further demonstrate he knows well what works for him, and the music strikes a graceful balance between the thoughtful end of indie rock and the introspection of the '70s singer/songwriter community;
Park plays many of the instruments himself on
Come What Will, and his guitar and banjo work is impressively nimble, while
Matt Mayhall's precise drumming and the string accents from cellist
April Guthrie and violinist
Jennifer Furches add valuable punctuation to the arrangements (and the production and engineering by
Dave Trumfio brings a sleek clarity to the material that steers clear of slickness).
Park's meditations on the nature of love and fate don't tend to tell stories you've never heard before, but he gives them a twist that's very much his own, and he never sounds less than genuine and heartfelt on these songs. Everyone has fallen in love and had their heart broken; the real trick is bringing an individual perspective to this universal story, and
Patrick Park does just that with skill and imagination on
Come What Will. ~ Mark Deming
