Album Review: Pat Chow - Are You Okay?

Are You Okay? starts on its strongest note with Pleasure Unit, a catchy as hell two-minute number that sounds like a lost track from Pixies' Doolittle and boasts more hooks than a fishing convention.

The rest of the record never reaches that level of punchy songwriting, though there are plenty of highlights — Plates showcases Pat Chow's prowess as balladeers, and closing track FML seems to follow suit, until you realise it's a 13-and-a-half minute epic packed with guitar solos that go from awe-inspiring to masturbatory and back again for a tremendous finish. It's smart sequencing: wow them in the end and you've got a hit.