Patrick Bukaty

Remember when, in the magical ’70s, television programming for children was dotted with animated vignettes of psuedo-psychedelic scenes set to whimsical singer-songwriter pieces tailored to suit? Some of them were reminiscent of the Beatles, some a Carole King ditty. Taking us back to that era is Patrick Bukaty, a former Kansas City mod rocker and frontman for the Go Generation, now residing in Japan, where he works as a teacher. Packed with touches of tropicali and loaded with bouncy, Lennon-evoking piano lines and classical turns of last century melodies, Torn Day sounds like it doesn’t belong here. And it doesn’t. His first solo album is a collection of songs from a person away from home and out of his own time. A man who sings If Juliet could only see this gaijin’s plight/She’d put the knife to debt and armistice decree (“Torn to Pieces”) is not one who’s concerned with this modern world. A romantic Luddite living in the most technologically advanced nation on Earth is sure to show chinks in his armor. But even though Bukaty’s lyrics can be clumsy, his songs come straight from the heart.