The Promise Review

The Promise by PATTI ZLAKET is a soft rock project with some jazz influences that explores extremely personal thematic highs and lows. It is so wonderful when music can transcend an individual tone. It shows the variety of the artists and better exemplifies their DNA as a musician, allowing them to shine, juxtaposed by a variety of thematic contexts. We see this across The Promise.

Sponsored

The opening track, Waiting To Begin feels like this bold and energetic soft rock anthem whereas the next track, The Promise feels like musical soup with layers of sound crossing over one another. Tonally, it feels more melancholic and subtle than the opening track. Although both have a pang of sadness within them, in this latter example the anguish is the primary emotional core. This ebb and flow allows the album to feel far more natural as we watch it evolve and shift between high and low energy as well as confidence and vulnerability. It feels like the way our thoughts and feelings change over time, mimicking the way our layers of emotions can overlap and change over time. Pretend changes this tone again dramatically with a powerful guitar interlude. This felt like the moment as sometimes instruments can communicate more than lyrics through their ineffable melodic understanding. The solo feels expressive while maintaining the rhythm of the song, not explosive or overly fast, instead just this meandering, languid exploration of emotional depth. The timbre felt crisp and developed, contrasting the softness of the album’s overall sound and adding texture to the sonic tapestry. Somewhere Down The Tracks, the final bonus track on the EP feels like a mix of these two traits, matching the rhythmic bounce and energy of the high points and the emotional vulnerability of the slow moments. It is so cathartic to see the album culminate so beautifully. It is clear they had a coherent vision for where they wanted the project to go and they have managed to achieve it without compromise. I’m excited to see what they do next!