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There's a place in the tiny little town of Bangor, Maine that has been a staple to the community since 1999. It's called The Brick Church, and every Thursday for the past eleven years (sans a holiday now and again) it has played host to an open mic night, drawing in talent from the quaint town to show off their skills and commune with other musicians and passer-by's who enjoy hearing new talent. On August 26th, I happened to pass by The Brick Church at 7:00 (which happens to be the starting time) and I decided, what the hell... let's go check it out.

The setting was quaint, an informal cafe-style place, it wasn't like any church I had been in before... there was no pews, instead we sat in an open floor on plastic chairs with cafe-tables in front of us, sipping coffee and watching the musicians go up for their ten minute sets. I was immediately impressed by the level of talent that had showed up to play, but none impressed me more than a man who got up and after about ten minutes of technical difficulties proceeded to turn my pre-conceived notions upside down. He mentioned briefly that he had an album for sale for ten dollars, and halfway through the first of two songs that he played, I knew I was going to buy one.

The man's name is John Patrick, his album is called Hocus Pocus. I bought the CD, praying that it held up to his brief but incredible performance, but by the time the night was over, when I went to look for him to find out a little more about him for this review, I couldn't find him. All I had was his name, and a burned CD-R with ten tracks. The second I got back to my car I put the CD in and proceeded to drive around for an hour aimlessly, just listening to the music. (I only needed to go ten minutes up the road, but I couldn't bare to stop what I was listening to, so I wandered around local roads, taking it all in.

I frequent open mic nights constantly, it's part of my job here at The Sound Faction to find new musicians. John Patrick is by far the best talent that I've heard come out of an open mic night in my entire life. That sounds so definite, but I made no apologies, and no rescission. His folky heartbreak blues style tugs at my heartstrings and pushes me headlong into a time before synthesizers, electronic drum tracks and auto-tune. This is the music that one expects to hear in a seedy dive-bar after a bad breakup.

I have searched, no, SCOURED the internet tirelessly for information about John Patrick, for a MySpace, a Facebook, a local newspaper article, or the record on iTunes to no avail. I wish so badly that I could link you to somewhere so you could hear this incredible music, but I just can not find a single thing.

When I purchased the CD, I mentioned to him that I would be reviewing the record and gave him the website address and our e-mail, so though it's a long-shot... John Patrick, if you're reading this review, I beg of you, sir, e-mail us. Our e-mail address is soundfaction@gmail.com

But onto reviewing the record:

The second I put it in, I was so relieved to hear exactly what I had heard at The Brick Church. Sadly the record has no track names, so I have nothing to reference by title, but the album is ten tracks that will take you on a 41 minute and 43 second vacation from the everyday stresses and show you a simplified world where an acoustic guitar and raspy voice soothe all of your problems for the time being.

My favorite track by far (although I am madly in love with all of them) is track 10. I wish I had a name for you, but I've been referring to it as "Long Way To Nashville". This is one of the two songs that I heard John Patrick play at The Brick Church, and I was immediately enraptured by it. Normally in my reviews this is where I would come in and compare it to something you may have heard before, but I am completely incapable of doing that. I've been sitting here at Tim Horton's, listening to the song on repeat for over an hour to think of some way to tell you how I feel about this song, but I have nothing in my wide arsenal of music to compare it to.

I promise you, readers, that I am going to find out more about John Patrick if it kills me. And Mr. Patrick, if you're still reading, I will be at The Brick Church on Thursday at seven pm sharp in desperate hopes to find and talk to you. (But e-mail us anyway!) This is music that needs to be available for the public to find, and so I'll continue to try and track John Patrick down and talk to him about options to make it available, and if I do, dear readers... you will be the first ones I tell about it.