Album review: Mike Patton - The Solitude of Prime Numbers

When people refer to Mike Patton (Faith No More, Tomahawk, Mr Bungle, etc) as ‘multi-faceted’ they only scrape the tip of the iceberg. How many musicians have released as many diverse albums, bands, or projects as well as side-careers in voice acting and label management (Ipecac Records: Making people sick since 1999) as this cult hero? His latest release is the soundtrack The Solitude Of Prime Numbers, and it blazes some new trails while still being quintessentially Patton. It is a story that captivated him and he has lovingly built it a soundtrack in return. The man himself is no stranger to soundtracks. This is in fact his third, behind Crank 2 and the short film A Perfect Place. Also don’t forget that Fantomas’ The Director’s Cut were all covers of soundtrack works. 

For The Solitude of Prime Numbers Mike Patton uses one of the deadliest weapons in his arsenal: a modicum of restraint. After all the nightmarish sounds he has unleashed upon the musical world (I’m looking at you Delirium Cordia!) this may be his most carefully measured work to date. When playing the part of soundtrack conductor he tends to downplay his formidable vocal talents and lay heavier emphasis on pure composition. Even as a young man he was making serious inroads into alternative compositions, inroads which have matured into a musical signature. The whole album is a long “mood piece” that is laced with that oddball charm we have come to expect. 

In fact I struggle to recall a Patton release that has this quality of ambience. “Quadratix” is a throwback to classic suspense music of the Hitchcock era. A bare, distant piano dances precariously through “The Snow Angel” and the slow-burning “Weight Of Consequences” swallows you up into its dark, paranoid world. However a great soundtrack has to be able to survive by itself away from its parent text. Will you choose to hear it as an album in its own right, or is it always going to be just a part of some larger thing? Can it deliver an entertaining listening experience and also have the correct degree of atmosphere. In that regard I would say this album succeeds most of the time. Certain tracks are truly attention grabbing (like “Radius Of Convergence” and the all-too-brief “Identity Matrix”) but, even to Patton fans, The Solitude Of Prime Numbers will probably land in the “not essential” pile. If you are after a tense, psychotic trip through a wonderfully wrought soundscape then this might very well be for you.

Rating: B

This review is published with kind permission from www.the-tune.net. 
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