Every time I see Patrick Breiner perform, it makes me believe in something again. His music grabs hold of me as a listener and speaks, “You are alive! This is the moment. Breathe. See. Hear.” Maybe it is the growing cold and dark of the season. Or the drudgery of daily life. Or the cultural stagnation that seems to so commonly envelop our society. Or even the constant reminder of the threats that human brutality, climate destruction, and acidic politics pose to our very existence. Or maybe just the isolation we experience in our post-modern social media-driven lives. Breiner’s music cuts through this, offering us a moment of clarity, solace even, as he bears his humanity to the audience.

Breiner is an aesthetic visionary and is one of the most promising young talents emerging now on the Brooklyn music scene. One of the most astonishing things about live performances by Breiner’s band Double Double is that in a single 45-minute set, they lead us through an incredible range of emotions and ideas. Breiner can be fierce and fragile, bold and vulnerable, ecstatic and pacific all at a moment’s turn. He combines all of these ingredients in just the right proportions, all in real time improvisation. At the Living Gallery last night, Breiner was joined by musicians who share his aesthetic sense. Will McEvoy and Greg Chudzik (subbing for Adam Hopkins) on basses provide constant tension, bubbling energy, darkness beneath the light of Breiner’s tenor. And Flin van Hemmen on drums, a musician who is sensitive to small sounds and makes use of every angle and surface of his kit.

The Living Gallery (1094 Broadway, Bushwick) was a great space for Double Double’s sound and attracts a diverse young audience. If any musician today is going to bring avant music to the next generation of listeners, it is Patrick Breiner, who through his numerous bands, is making waves of new sound.

–Cisco Bradley, January 9, 2015