Tobacco Pat – Lawrence Weber
Tobacco Pat – God Moves On The Water
Tobacco Pat's (a.k.a. Logan Farmer) music unfolds itself like a James Joyce novel. It's thick and heavy. It's full of allusions, misdirection, religious themes, and moral contemplation. There's so much packed into every song that every listen becomes more than just entertainment. It becomes an experience and journey.
Now, I know Joyce novels like Ulysses are dense, abstract bricks that aren't exactly accessible page-turners. So maybe this is where the comparison ends, because Farmer's stripped down, one-man acoustic folk is definitely approachable. The songs of God Moves On The Water basically become what you put into them. If you want a beautiful rainy day soundtrack, it's there. If you're feeling existential and have an open mind, it's there. They're both instantly likable and serious growers. Something different seems to touch me with each listen.
The first single, "Lawrence Weber", immediately sucks you into Farmer's world. It's a biographical tale filled with echoed whispers, personal details, and ghostly background ooh's. The song does what the best books do (back to the literary references again) and gives you enough description to allow you to form your own detailed imagery, rather than overloading you with adjectives.
Farmer has a great command over mood and controls expertly with the track order. He seems to know just when the album is being weighed down by it's own emotional intensity and drops in a lighter song like "Bright One" and a meandering instrumental in "Offertory".
I'd love to hear what Tobacco Pat could offer with a slightly fleshed-out band and some serious touring chops. There's so much intelligence and thought in his music, I could see an Iron & Wine type path in his future.
For now though, you should love the hell out of God Moves On The Water, which is available to stream on his website or as a pay-what-you-want on his Bandcamp page.
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