This versatile Estonian made his name in the Baltic states as frontman for the Linnu Tee and Ruja in the 1980s, before building a reputation as a producer and soundtrack composer.
He only made his solo debut at the age of 52 in 2011, and has made up for lost time with this follow-up. The list of his favourite bands on his website sounds like a contents list to a dream issue of Prog, so it’s no great surprise that opening track Light Ship is plastered in Mellotron-style keyboard patterns, even if it does dress a fairly straightforward, 80s-style slice of soft rock. It’s actually this kind of stirring, mainstream AOR that is Patte’s strongest suit as a songwriter. Dance In Livland adds a folk-inflected sweetness to the mix, and the sentimental but melodic Christian rock textures of In Your Arms are hard to resist. Patte fares less well in the regular passages of jazz-rock and instrumental noodling, which seem tacked on. Far more interesting and original are the choirboy-style falsetto lighting up The Servant Soul and the flashes of fret-lightning from long-time guitarist collaborator Raul Jansson. So thanks are indeed in order, and we’d gladly share the majority of it too.
