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Local CD review: Trumpeter Swan ‘Listen for the Clues’
Trumpeter Swan
‘Listen for the Clues’
Drew Patrizi penned the single best song Austin quartet What Made Milwaukee Famous ever played — the snappy melodic pop nugget “Selling Yourself Short,” the highlight off buoyant debut album “Trying Never to Catch Up.” So it’s no surprise that this solo debut from Patrizi — now migrated to Brooklyn, like all the cool kids — chugs along with impressive energy and variety. Opener “Loose Lips,” with its fetching dose of brass and hummable refrain, sounds like a continuation of What Made Milwaukee Famous at their most affecting. That holds just as true for the record’s other rock-derived outings, including the powerpop barrage of “Won’t Come Back” and “Fools Parade.”
But Patrizi’s also in full-on sonic experimentation mode on “Listen for the Clues,” making time for cascading synths on “Acolyte” and “Greenbelt,” slipping into piano balladry on closer “Forest Fire” and toying with heavy reverb on the spaced-out “Silent Film.” And he pulls it off thanks to an impressive array of local luminaries — from engineers Erik Wofford and Danny Reisch to players from Voxtrot, the Lemurs and the Polyphonic Spree. At 53 minutes, “Listen for the Clues” wanders just a bit too much, but the worst you can accuse Patrizi of is over-ambition — and even then, only barely.
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