Papa Satch – Passages (Album Review)

Can music that attempts to revive an older sound capture a new, unfamiliar audience without additional factors to set them apart? This is the central question that boggles my mind as I explore the universe of today’s release. Papa Satch, a band from Long Island, New York is back with a brand-new album titled ‘Passages‘. For those who are unfamiliar with the band, here’s a rundown of what characterises it. The band consists of three members: Bob Sachnoff, Steve Ronsen, and John Zych. Bob provides a good chunk of the lead and backup vocals, Steve plays the guitar, bass drums, and keyboard and also contributes to the lead and backup vocals, while John plays the keyboard. Bob is credited as the main songwriter of the band, with assistance from Steve.

It is always essential for one to go into the backstory of a musical act before actually exploring their body of work. This can provide the listener and the recipient with enough contextual information and phenomenological context to appreciate their art. Bob started off being a constituent of bands such as Black Horizon as well as a prominent member of the band ‘Spoof’. He also had creative input in the critically acclaimed album titled ‘Doggin’ It’ by the act ‘Actress’, linked to Spoof by way of the record label.

The second member, Steve, is an award-winning music director who has worked with big names such as Eddy Money as well as Charlie Daniels. His most noteworthy accomplishment is the solo release titled ‘Everything’, in which he wrote, performed as well as produced. He is quite the name when it comes to working with various bands in Long Island. The third member, John, plays keyboards for different acts and has a hand in songwriting.

The proficiency and competence of all three artists come together and solidify in the act in of itself, and today, we will explore the culmination of their artistry.

I will say, I do typically expect certain sonic themes from an album cover when it comes to their actual sound. The album art is definitely very retro-futuristic, (if that makes any sense), reminiscent of vaporwave and its associated sound. However, I did not really hear any essence of that influence in the album. I think it would’ve been interesting to add aspects of synthesizers and synthetic sounds to the actual mix, to breathe new life into the sound of the album.

As for the content of the album itself, the tracks were all very well produced. I do not hear anything wrong with the mastering or mixing in any of these tracks. The first track, ‘Wanted to Know’, had all the essence of intent to excite, but did not truly excite me in its predictability. It isn’t a bad track, at all, but I think a bit of variation could’ve worked to make the track stick out a little bit more. Otherwise, I think all the components of the track match the theme of the album as well as the tone of the vocals. I hear a little bit of Blues instrumental influence mixed with the beauty of the electric guitar. I would say, the melodic chops of the guitar are quite pleasing to my ears.

The second track, ‘The Visit’, bear the same level of competency as the first track, but with a robust emphasis on vocal harmonies. I think the harmonies are very well-mixed and gel together to make a decent soundscape. The guitar solo is also quite clean and nicely recorded. Unfortunately, by the third track, ‘Try’, the formulaic band structure of the instrumentation makes me as a listener quite weary. These tracks have no technical error, but they lack a little sparkle in terms of composition.

The fourth track, ‘In My Life’, thankfully saves the trail of the album by genuinely inserting aspects of interesting instrumentation. The scale used, the way the guitar takes on a slight jazz vibe on its own, the dominant intent of the vocals itself, the tempo, and the variation between the chorus and the pre-chorus definitely sticks out. It has a unique quality of merging guitar techniques from the 80s as well as the 90s all in one track, without them clashing with each other. I think the scale used by the guitar is also very intriguing.

‘Shine Your Life’, the track afterward, amps up the peak given by the previous track. This track definitely has a bossa nova / slight Latin flair to the percussive elements behind the track. I think the vocals in this track is also quirky and unique, as I genuinely do not hear any other vocalist with the same timbre and tone as this particular vocalist these days. The groove of the percussion and the shakers mixed with the piano tracking the pattern of the percussion gives the song a smooth basis for the electric guitar to sprinkle in a bit of edginess within the track. The infusion of trumpets as well as harmony from the background singers also give the song musical variability. Thus far, this might be the most pleasant song on the album.

‘Today’, then comes in with a percussive element that will definitely capture your ears. However, I find that this song follows the general percussive structure of 2010s indie rock, instead of the typical rock sound. While the juxtaposition can make it unique, I think it takes away from the rest of the song. However, I am aware that people tend to use this motif to represent an inspirational build-up in songs. While it is my personal bias to not necessarily gravitate towards such things, I can definitely appreciate the context of it being placed in this song. The star of this song is definitely the little sparks of piano mixed with the harmonies, as well as the ‘plucked’ sound at the 2′ minute mark. In fact, at the same timestamp, the percussive element of the song changes to a typical ‘rock drumset’ sound, which suits the song better. I also have to compliment the mastering of this particular track.

The seventh track, ‘I Didn’t Call’, immediately puts me in the mind of soft rock ballads from the early 2000s, by the chords, the timbre of the guitar, and the clean vocals of the vocalist. It definitely follows a lot of the stylistic techniques used by the previous track, but lacks the same oomph that the exact track bears. A little expansion towards musical variability would’ve helped to soften the impact of predictability in this particular track. Like all the other tracks in the album, though, there is absolutely zero issue with mastering or the vocalist being off-tune. These people definitely are skilled.

The eighth track, ‘Passages’, takes on a more punk-rock revitalist feel instantly when you listen to the track. It comes in energetic, yet soulful with the melange of chords. It definitely sounds like a coming-of-age song from 2005 or 2006. I think this track would have the most instant ‘commercial’ appeal, because of its instantly recognisable sound and propensity for one to be able to sing along to it. I think the song unfortunately is a little too predictable to me, except for the slight guitar licks toward the end. The mastering in this song is absolutely supreme, the vocal delivery by the vocalist is definitely commandable. The bridge of this song definitely gives the song the character it needs, and the solo makes up for the predictability of the pre-chorus. All in all, these aspects make the song ‘even out’.

The ninth track, ‘Crash’, definitely puts me in the mind of A-Ha or some other niche act in the 80s merely because of the tone of the vocalist’s voice. His voice has a nostalgic yet clean quality that reminds me of songs from that time period- well, the drumming and choice of chords also lend way to this interpretation of the song. It is a very easily-listenable song, following the pattern of the previous track.

The last track, ‘Let It Go’, amusingly combines motifs from the eighth and ninth track with a little bit of surf rock influence on the groove and the percussion. The guitars definitely have more time to shine in this particular song, and I think the way the lyrics were written would definitely help the song to reach mass appeal with its onomatopoeia as well as repetition. The mastering in this song is quite good, as it helps to elevate each instrument in this song and give you the intent of instrumentation. I can definitely see this song being used in a movie that isn’t too serious, for some reason.

All in all, I would definitely say that this album is quite good. It has all the marks of decent instrumentation, mastering, as well as artistic intent. My only problem with this album is how predictable some of the tracks can be, without any room for any new techniques in instrumentation or anything that deviates from the set of songs that these tracks bear resemblance to. That’s why I personally think tracks like ‘In My Life’ and ‘Shine My Life’ would definitely appeal to someone who is looking for something fresh and new within the bounds of the musical style of the band. Moreover, a little tiny bit of technological infusion would’ve been nice given the aesthetic of the album cover itself, although I do respect if it is an intentional creative decision to keep it as acoustic and authentic as possible.

Rating/Good – ‘Passages’ is an album that would definitely appeal to people that have an ear for a variety of rock-related genres, but falls short with the arc of predictability in some of their compositions. It is a well-mastered album and would work for its intended demographic. Some interesting songs in this album include ‘In My Life’ and ‘Shine My Life’, saving the album from being labeled as ‘revivalist’ art.

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