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By RACHELLE FORD
Staff Writer

The voice that comes from this charismatic artist is actually quite interesting. His vocal style is unique, raspy and smooth. It’s fresh, and entertaining. In the first few moments as the album begins, he recognizes his listeners. I, as a new found Dave Patten fan, appreciate that!

This album starts off with the track “Back To School” in which he has great verbal flow, besides the familiar sound of a pop beat. It has an interesting solo with some kind of storm sound.

“Yeah Yeah” is a good tune about dancing and hooking up later. I liked the vibes, Dave Patten even using a voice changer to deepen his voice. The piano intensified the vocals.

He takes advantage of his sultry voice on the track, “Come Home With Me”. He has a great deal of confidence with the choice of lyrics and the yearning in his voice. The song sounds like a sensual and seductive message about having an affair.

A good rapping song is, “Fast”. He is introducing the second album and his career. I would love to have heard fewer drum effects in some parts of the song, however I did like the harmony.

The very catchy, “She Told Me”, is a love song, yet so much more. It has a really strong rock groove, reminding me of a Santana tune. It even has a reggae mood to it. The song has a very nice melody. I love that it has a guitar in it.

The next song, “Whispering”, is soft and gentle. I’m appreciating the song writing more and more as I keep going over the songs.

The melody in “Just Don’t Care” is a little annoying. The rhythm is like there was a metronome ticking away as he sang the chorus. However, the mood of the song is relatable, making it more tolerable.

Dave Patten did an amazing job in capturing emotion in “Can’t Go On”. Like most of the songs on this album, it’s about heartache.

Definitely an ode to change played with a piano in “I’m Alright”. Short, tearful, and an effective message of dishing out pure yet simple closure.

At the end of the album, after the upbeat and positive song, “Summer’s Here”, he thanks his family and friends for the love and support during the making of the No Direction album.

It’s all starting to come together. This album is more like a novel with chapters. Each song feels like a different part of his life, over a period of time it took us from meet, to love, and then move on, perhaps? I like the effort Dave Patten put into his lyrics on this album. As well as emotion packed set list with a melodic and simple rhythm. It would be more powerful if it easy to judge the genre. However it has a great twist of musical influences.

I’m interested in hearing future albums as Dave Patten travels on this musical journey - sure to go somewhere as soon as the rest of world catches a listen to his voice.