The Lost Patrol

7.5

The sound of the road isn't just for garage-rock, and twang isn't just for country. Sounds can get pigeonholed based on the latest trends. On Dark Matter (QRO review), The Lost Patrol brought emotion into a new arena, and now they haunt with the road, twang, saxophone, and more on Rocket Surgery.

Starting with the road-spook of opener "Dead or Alive", The Lost Patrol aren't here to comfort you on Rocket Surgery. Instead, it's a chilly feeling of abandoned county roads with empty barns and ghost towns, like on the slower, darker, farther away "Coming Down", or the slyer & twang-ier "Don't Give Me Love". The echo-sustain on the twelve-string acoustics brings out a harpsichord-like sound on the penultimate "Love" and especially middle track "Not the Only One", and the harpsichord is the most haunting instrument there is (even more than the xylophone, which is, "The music you hear when skeletons are dancing" - Homer Simpson).

The Lost Patrol can do a brighter sound, such as on "Play With Fire", but their tendency to sway can get a bit maudlin ("This Road Is Long") or forgettable ("Lost At Sea"). Rocket Surgery isn't completely un-country - closer "I'm On To You" doesn't even need the ‘alt-‘ of alt-country - or un-garage - see the relaxed "Sweet Ophelia" - but they can also pull out the sax-o-mo-phone on eighties-like instrumental "3 am". There's much to find in the highways & backwoods of The Lost Patrol... - QRO Magazine

"This Road is Long" sees Stephen Mascucci and Michael Williams and Israel's guitars reaching untold heights to a string-laden backdrop. The vocals are gorgeous and remind me of Paula Frazer from Tarnation. "Little Girl" is a spacey-sounding song with an appealing sixties-flavored instrumentation that plays well against Israel's vocals. "Sweet Ophelia" is a sad song with a glorious melody. Israel's beautiful vocals are as ever on the money. "Don't Give Me Love" is a little tougher, and the band give an excellent rockin' performance. This is a great record as ever by the Lost Patrol. - Luna Kafé

New York City delivers. You can check the names off a list of great bands and often enough they’re a fixture from the big city. With a large collection of diverse music found in the ceaseless dynamo of New York City, it’s no surprise that talent thrives there. One such band radiating from that energy is The Lost Patrol.

The Lost Patrol brings together a cool blend of styles that is, at times, rockabilly, and at other times, dream pop. They can produce a flawless ‘60s sound, or play a song that reaches into the ‘80s for its spark. But no matter what styles they bring to the table, they’re all wrapped in a distinct gothic sound creating standout uniqueness. The band’s current lead singer, Mollie Israel (daughter of Hollywood director Amy Heckerling) has a great dreamy voice perfect for this kind of music. Her voice effortlessly compliments the band’s work.

Michael Williams' 12-string acoustic guitar adds a defining touch to the skills of guitarist Stephen Masucci (who also provides bass, keyboards, Moog synth, and programming to the mix), and Israel's vocal and instrumental contributions.

The Lost Patrol has already released quite a few albums, all of them notable for their sound. However, it wasn’t until 2008’s Midnight Matinee that they were fused with Mollie Israel’s voice. Midnight Matinee separates from the band’s earlier albums with a determined effort that the inclusion of Israel seems to have brought out in full force. From the first song, “On The Run,” with its Stephen Masucci surf-a-billy guitars, The Lost Patrol feels solid.

Their next release was Dark Matter, issued in 2010. The Lost Patrol more tightly explored the psychedelia of their previous release with eerily echoed rockabilly guitars, and an otherworldly sound that engages your attention from the start. With excellent songs like “In Your Blood,” the ‘60s-like “Before I Go,” the entrancing “Nobody There,” and the memorable “Leading the Blind,” The Lost Patrol is setting the stage for a good future.

For their newest album, the band turned to Kickstarter to raise the money for production. Kickstarter, a funding site that encourages fans to help in recording costs in return for an often personalized copy of the album and other considerations, is a trending option for new and established artists wanting to retain full control of their music.

Without problem, The Lost Patrol gained the necessary money to finish their new album, Rocket Surgery, which will release in October 2011 with eleven tracks.

“Lost At Sea,” and a rich tune in “This Road Is Long” are songs from the forthcoming album and can be downloaded or streamed from the band’s BandCamp page. A newer version of “This Road Is Long” will be released on the new CD. These songs promise an even richer experience than the band’s earlier albums. With each release, The Lost Patrol gets better. - The Morton Report

5 Stars Out Of 5

Have you ever had one of those perfect days at the beach? The skies are hazy; it’s warm but not unbearably so; and the current allows you to float out to a point where it feels like it’s just you and the ocean?

Perfect days don’t come by very often, but The Lost Patrol have managed to bottle a massive dose of that naturally hallucinogenic feeling on their new album, “Rocket Surgery.”

“Rocket Surgery” is the third album to feature the lead vocals of Mollie Israel, who is flanked by Lost Patrol stalwarts Stephen Massucci and Michael Williams. While the album does cast a mood over the listener as if some type of harmless happy gas is wafting from the speakers, the songs shift from dreamy and playful to aggressive and violent without breaking character. Like a good film, “Rocket Surgery” gets reality out of the way for a few minutes.

Opening track “Dead or Alive” makes it difficult to get to the rest of the album, as it’s the type of song for which “repeat” buttons were invented. “Dead or Alive” is the archetypal Lost Patrol tune: Dusty 12-string guitar, menacing bass, and a John Barry-esque guitar figure give way to a vocal that’s as haunting as it is beautiful. To hear Israel’s powerful voice slice through the middle of the Massuci/Williams soundscape is a rare pleasure in the world of modern popular music.

It would be perfectly acceptable for The Lost Patrol to fill an album with songs cut from the “Dead or Alive” cloth, but they don’t. “Not the Only One” evokes the pastoral psychedelic days of early King Crimson, while “Coming Down” sounds like the type of thing Adele might produce if she decided to go the rock and roll route. The electronica-gallop of “Lost at Sea” is the type of song Garbage or Blondie would wish for — given the proper lamp.

While all of these comparisons are recognizable, they are nonetheless minimal. “Sweet Ophelia” has a futuristic vibe that proves it’s still possible to do something new with a pop song. One can just picture little green men doing the Cabbage Patch to this song as they try to pick up little green women in a sports bar on the other side of Saturn.

It’ll be interesting to see where The Lost Patrol goes from here, but “Rocket Surgery” presents an enthralling case for the focusing on the present. - The Free Press - KINSTON, NC

5 Stars Out Of 5

Have you ever had one of those perfect days at the beach? The skies are hazy; it’s warm but not unbearably so; and the current allows you to float out to a point where it feels like it’s just you and the ocean?

Perfect days don’t come by very often, but The Lost Patrol have managed to bottle a massive dose of that naturally hallucinogenic feeling on their new album, “Rocket Surgery.”

“Rocket Surgery” is the third album to feature the lead vocals of Mollie Israel, who is flanked by Lost Patrol stalwarts Stephen Massucci and Michael Williams. While the album does cast a mood over the listener as if some type of harmless happy gas is wafting from the speakers, the songs shift from dreamy and playful to aggressive and violent without breaking character. Like a good film, “Rocket Surgery” gets reality out of the way for a few minutes.

Opening track “Dead or Alive” makes it difficult to get to the rest of the album, as it’s the type of song for which “repeat” buttons were invented. “Dead or Alive” is the archetypal Lost Patrol tune: Dusty 12-string guitar, menacing bass, and a John Barry-esque guitar figure give way to a vocal that’s as haunting as it is beautiful. To hear Israel’s powerful voice slice through the middle of the Massuci/Williams soundscape is a rare pleasure in the world of modern popular music.

It would be perfectly acceptable for The Lost Patrol to fill an album with songs cut from the “Dead or Alive” cloth, but they don’t. “Not the Only One” evokes the pastoral psychedelic days of early King Crimson, while “Coming Down” sounds like the type of thing Adele might produce if she decided to go the rock and roll route. The electronica-gallop of “Lost at Sea” is the type of song Garbage or Blondie would wish for — given the proper lamp.

While all of these comparisons are recognizable, they are nonetheless minimal. “Sweet Ophelia” has a futuristic vibe that proves it’s still possible to do something new with a pop song. One can just picture little green men doing the Cabbage Patch to this song as they try to pick up little green women in a sports bar on the other side of Saturn.

It’ll be interesting to see where The Lost Patrol goes from here, but “Rocket Surgery” presents an enthralling case for the focusing on the present. - The Free Press - KINSTON, NC

Flying under the radar forever, for years this greater New York trio have made some of the loveliest ethereal music, but Rocket Surgery says they’re peaking. They’ve always had some of the epic grandeur of The Chameleons (“Play With Fire” here overtly nods to “Singing Rule Britannia”), the sonic majesty of Kitchens of Distinction, and the female-voiced, chamber mothership pathos of Cocteau Twins, Siouxsie’s Banshees, and Pale Saints, but their reach is expanding like the depth of their spatial production. Witness the cinematic, orchestral strings diving like dolphins under Mollie Israel’s yearning vocal on “This Road is Long,” or the Country Western twang of Duane Eddy, solo Greg Sage, and “The Game” Echo & the Bunnymen elsewhere. Lost Patrol are busting out of any anglophile-oriented, post-dreampop, guitar-effect-dominated, 4AD-ish ghetto; Rocket Surgery is sprawling, glistening music as full of bursting beauty as 11 red roses springing open—and as dazzling as their World’s Fair (Queens) at supernova-dusk sleeve. Wow. - The Big Takeover (Winter 2012)