PATRICK WATSON
Better In The Shade (Secret City)
Now moving into his third decade of music-making, with Better In The Shade, the ever-ubiquitous Patrick Watson has created another beautifully crafted album that pushes his soft piano, light vocal, ambient electronic style further to the leftfield. With tracks that can be found on countless playlists and adorning the soundtracks of shows from Grey’s Anatomy to The Walking Dead, Watson has carved out a respectable niche in the highly emotional yet easily transferable, not too specific but widely relatable, world of sync music.
The title Better In The Shade may imply that Patrick Watson is happy to make music that doesn’t hit the spotlight in the way his previous albums have, and this is definitely an album of music made by musicians who care about the sounds and words they are creating. But I have a feeling that with a formula as bulletproof as Watson’s, we’ll be hearing the truly beautiful Ode To Vivian on a closing credit before too long.
words JOHN-PAUL DAVIES
