Esmé Patterson takes you a little off guard at first. Her music is mellow but there is plenty of interesting guitar play throughout her album “We Were Wild” and the songs  consistently settle into good rocking grooves.

On the album opener “Feel Right” you’ll find Esmé rattling along with a rockabilly style that sounds like it could have been a cover of a lost Buddy Holly tune. On the next track, “No River” you see how powerful Patterson can be. She follows her steady electric guitar strums with a bouncy beat and a big chorus. The message of the chorus on the song of “I’m human” can be taken politically as empowerment or as a submission of everyday life. The sound of a pedal steel opens the most delicate song on the record, “Wantin Ain’t Gettin” and Patterson’s subtly sweet vocal delivery guides you through the song like a sailor being guided to jagged rocks. Emotionally vulnerable moments are in abundance throughout, like on the softly strummed “Yours and Mine” right down to the least softly strummed song here, “Feel Right.”

Many moments on this album are easily relatable only increasing the songs’ accessibility. Patterson certainly has a way with words as she smoothly manipulates them and packs an emotional punch without using too many typewriter keys. This is the kind of album that will likely get looked over by the masses but there is a ton of good material here that is more than worth checking out.

Key Tracks: “No River” “Feel Right” “Wantin Ain’t Gettin”