The last time that we checked, Pattern Is Movement lead singer Andrew Thiboldeau was teaching the impressionable youth of inner-city Philadelphia. It was a gig that was a fountain of entertaining wit and humility for the burly man with the pretty voice. Also, the last time we saw him, he was giving us the suspenders right off of his back. He's just that sort of guy. Drummer Chris Ward actually just left his pillow here. We've been meaning to get it back to him, but he probably does something like that fairly often so we determined that the hassle of shipping a pillow back to him in the post wasn't likely worth the hassle, nor the gas. We've kept the pillow and we've kept it safe for the time-being. We hope that he'll claim it the next time that he's hauling ass back through these Midwestern parts, whenever next that might be. These things matter some because deserting his pillow is the worst thing that we've ever known Ward to have done. We're still not sure what the worst thing that Thiboldeau has done, but we're guessing that it's some minor infraction that could be easily forgiven. He may have simply ruined the surprise part of a surprise party for a friend, only because he couldn't contain his happiness. We've always known these fellows to be huggers and every time we listen to the music that they make together, we're reminded of that, of those hugs, the big and manly ones that lock in and hold you belly-to-hairy-belly for just the right amount of time and then they're over, leaving you feeling cozy all over. We're reminded that these weird and wild songs of such ornate and specific beauty come from those places inside where there is no ill will being harbored, where the hugs start from, where they rise out of and then spread. These songs are stemming from these little lockets of love, in the cockles of the soul, where we keep our affirmations, where we visit when things have gone way too blue for us up here, above ground. The two new jams that they performed for this session - "Light of the World" and "Make It Right" - could be mantras that school children could recite to themselves each morning. They are simple lessons, or thoughts, that could make one a better person, or just glow a little bit more. Here we could be enriching ourselves and getting a little nasty at the club at the same time. All of this, in a perfect world.