Park explores his mediocrity, feelings

Patrick Park's latest album, Loneliness Knows My Name is an astounding tour of mediocrity. The album tracks seem as though they could take off at any moment and become at least catchy, if not inspiring, but that just isn't the case. It's not that Park can't sing, play his guitar or write decent songs, he can do all of these things, he just can't do them with any kind of force. \nNone of his songs are truly bad, and a couple are nice enough, but none of them stand out from each other. Even the tunes clearly inspired by '60s British bands end up losing their identity in context with the rest of the album.\nPark is clearly in the alternative country genre. As with many others, he feels the need to reach out beyond simple guitars and banjos, while retaining the feel of the original music. Not a bad idea -- it has certainly worked for other alt-country bands like Wilco and the Jayhawks. Yet, Loneliness Knows My Name lacks the focus that these groups added to their music.