Soul Patch

Soul Patch says their music is all about "groove, groove, groove and then solo your ass off." Believe In Love lives up to this mandate with extended psychedelic jamming, care of Jon Treichel, who fills the breaks between singer Kira Haug's hippy-happy vocals. This release should bode well with the jam-band crowd, as the vibe is positive and the beats are almost continuous. By far the best material is found at the album's end, in a hat trick of songs recorded by a full band (instead of the trio that multi-tracked the rest of the album). The culture reggae of "Everybody," with its horn section, and the live version of the band's funk favourite "Mr. Glossy" shows the heights this band is capable of. Unfortunately, Believe In Love has all the trappings of a debut record, as far too much ground is attempted to cover on one CD, resulting in an often non-cohesive mix of styles and blatant mimicry; too much Alanis here, Ani there, and George Harrison - right down to the Brit accent - on "Inside").