This Patch Of Sky

The six-member band has carved a neat place for itself in the haunting, wordless world of symphonic post-rock

This Patch of Sky
This Patch of Sky

Doesn’t that name sound familiar? This Patch of Sky got its name from a Lord Leebrick Theatre sign in 2010. Since then, the six-member band has carved a neat place for itself in the haunting, wordless world of symphonic post-rock. Despite having songs in World Cup promos, documentary trailers and upcoming blockbusters, the band members have stayed in Lane County, touring the coast every once in a while but mostly writing and laying down tracks. Their eponymous album (released in August) was featured on numerous Best-of-2014 lists, and they’re already working on a new LP.

“We’re a very fast-paced band,” says Kit Day, co-founder and guitarist. “We write quick; we record quick. The initial sit-down recording process [for the album] took about four days, then the mixing after that took a month and a half.”

Ironically, the tracks This Patch of Sky produces are slow, introspective, often running upward of six to eight minutes. There are no vocals, just steady, half-stack drama, all instrumental. Each song on their latest LP flows seamlessly into the next like a changing weather pattern.

“We try and lay down music so that somebody could close their eyes and drift away to it,” Day says. “Music is a universal language — removing the vocal part, people all over the world can relate.”

And he’s right. The band already has a large following in Europe. But the group’s main direction lies closer to home, in the state below ours.

“Our personal passion,” Day says, “is that we want to start writing music for film. We approach [songwriting] by asking ourselves, how can we make the entire album feel like one long soundtrack?”

The future is bright for This Patch of Sky. With a “secret project” in the works and a WOW Hall party on Jan. 9, there’s really not much to complain about. For now, we should all just sit back and listen. Film or no film, this band could play from the sky itself and we’d have a true score for the scenes of our lives.

This Patch Of Sky plays with Hyding Jekyll, Hemlock Lane and Southtowne Lanes 8 pm Friday, Jan. 9, at WOW Hall; $7 adv., $10 door.