Everyone's in Everyone

by Stewart MasonThe previous albums by Colorado-born, Los Angeles-based neo-folkie singer/songwriter Patrick Park have been promising but spotty, but coming nearly four years after 2003's Loneliness Knows My Name, the far more self-assured Everyone's in Everyone is a big step forward. Opening with the immediately engaging solo voice and guitar tune "Life Is a Song," Everyone's in Everyone moves from strength to strength. Highlights include the genuinely great "Here We Are," a propulsive country-rocker in the vintage '70s Laurel Canyon style that features a strong, memorable chorus, and the moodier, mysterious "Saint with a Fever," which mines territory closer to vintage Richard Thompson. There isn't a single duff track on this concise 11-song album, which seems destined to put Park alongside Josh Ritter and Josh Rouse in the top tier of American folk-rock singer/songwriters.