*2025 stock* Following from 2016’s Peel Away the Ivy, The Pattern Forms return with The Scenic Route; an album which embodies a fresh new direction of idiom and focus. Where Peel Away the Ivy found the group setting out their stall, bringing library music influences to their brand of classic pop songwriting, this time around they have created a much more distilled, largely instrumental studio group sound, which focuses on mood and texture as well as being a tour de force in arrangement. Adding a new member, in the form of harpist Tom Moth, the pieces are succinct and concentrate on the essence of pastoral, romantic and expansive themes. Analogue synthesisers meld with drums, guitar textures and orchestral elements, to create a luxurious and nourishing listening experience. The Pattern Forms’ influences have always been apparent, but never before have they created a record which feels like a golden era library music album, made for the present day.