"I’m real specific about buying new music. Usually, I’ll only download [it] from my favorites. Like this... [What Surprises Us] is beautiful, spiritual, nourishing. It’s downright resplendent."

"My favorite 2018 release—WHAT SURPRISES US, by Patsy Moore—is another gem in a body of stellar work. Somehow, she just keeps getting better. This album is spiritual, romantic, introspective, transcendent, holy."

"[On What Surprises Us], Patsy Moore brings a very special voice forward... creating piano-based pop balladry with smart augmentation from African percussive polyrhythms, soulfulness with jazz instincts, and artful orchestration that recalls the work of Joni Mitchell. "

"In 2018, music of the flesh thrives hard, while its more soulful counterpart ironically gives up more of its ghost, leaving the responsibility of holding down what remains to a shrinking handful of singer-songwriters, like Patsy Moore, who reverently treat music as the spiritual nexus of mind and body... Moore’s latest album, What Surprises Us, is a gathering of the ancestors’ diasporic forms—a modern rendering of American Roots music, if you will—where the set sounds idyllically articulate, despite the many influences... Half of Moore’s winning formula lies in the way she pulls these musical pieces together... The other half is the assembly of three elements that tie into Moore’s beautiful deployment of prose: spirituality, ancestral guidance, and love."

“Patsy Moore is an artist, who creates world class art on the margins of obscurity without the support of a major label or financial backers. So the beauty, complexity and depth of her expression, and the artful quality of her songs and recording bespeak not only her vision, but her audacious commitment to bring the sounds to life, to collaborate with those who can help her bring to her recording... depth and texture... Intelligent, yet soulful.”

“Patsy Moore is a genius. Her music is bathed in truth and inspires me like not much else. By all merits, she should, by now, have been an international sensation.”

“In an era where albums—even independent albums—are made with commercial and monetary hopes in mind, music with any kind of girth has been long lost. Patsy has torn herself out of the bedstraw and created a story for anyone that has felt like a stranger in their homeland: the disenfranchised, the lost, the forsaken, the stranger.”

“There is no harder working entity in the music business than a Black woman singer [who] doesn’t do R&B, sings softly, expresses her culture and education with exquisite class, and whose latest album just happened to turn out to be a concept album—an outstanding one at that... Expatriates is a thoroughly transporting song cycle concerning the quests for identity and a place one can truly call home. This running theme (rendered more like a floating theme) is examined personally, historically, metaphorically and universally via music that feels as if it materialized out of dreams. When there are grooves, they are more like pulsations—echoes of heartbeats winding through waltzes, tangos, discos and the rhythm of life. Floating ethereal over it all is the sweetly singular voice of Moore, a soft whisper of compassionate yet disengaged all-knowing that acts as an omniscient navigator/narrator for a series of scenarios about people yearning for belonging.”

“I hate to slap a genre label on Expatriates because the album is too thoughtfully constructed to be called Pop (it’s certainly not the generic Wham, Bam, Thank You Fan variety that we know today), but the songs’ colors, stories and emotive themes are crystal clear for popular consumption... [T]he album will remain an important document for years to come.”

“Patsy has always been a curious and creative soul, and this latest collection of tone poems reminds me of the better mellow efforts of folks like Joni Mitchell, Sting, and Annette Peacock. At turns haunting ("Blood"), playful ("The Wife of Paul Gauguin"), bewildered ("This Is Not My Home"), yearning ("Historia"), joyous ("I Love You"), and resolved ("Evening Prayer"), we hear reflections of one who feels more at home with her temporary residence in a foreign land. The care that Patsy puts into each lyric, arrangement, audio segue, and instrumental accent is subtle, yet profound. And her whispering alto breathes deep the ponderings of one who has fought through and embraced much in the past five years. 'We both know the status quo is ebb and flow; as life retreats, so it advances.'”

“More brilliant and insightful lyrics from an artist of heart and mind. My fave: "The Wife of Paul Gauguin". Put this music on and get ready to be transported to all the places and times in Moore's head. Excellent.”

“There’s a... rich instrumental blend to Expatriates with [Patsy Moore's] light—often whispery—vocal thankfully sitting above the instrumental mix, [so] that the disc often feels like a soundtrack to a... film...”

“What makes this album so great is that it's a story of struggle and overcoming, from beginning to end. Haunting ("Blood") and hopeful ("I Love You") and everything in between, the poetry of each song puts Expatriates at the top of my playlist. Patsy Moore is a brilliant and true musician. 'Not a whole lot of those around anymore. She's the real deal, folks.”

“Patsy Moore's ambitious 2011 concept album, Expatriates, comes from a woman whose creativity has never quite allowed her to comfortably exist within any musical subculture.”

“Her ability to drink in and breathe out into her music such disparate influences mark her out as a unique talent. Moore's voice is something very special too—morphing from a soothing croon to impassioned growl and sweet falsetto at a moment's notice.”

“Patsy Moore's [latest] album is a wonderful mix of beauty and confession, the stark meeting in calming acceptance.”

“[Patsy's] lyrical, musical stories are indeed spiritual without the weight of dogma.”

“Patsy Moore... assaults the largely bland world of... pop music with a soundscape of breezy, intriguing music and vivid, compelling lyrics.”

“Opposites are catalysts, the flint against the stone in much of Moore's music. The existence of opposing forces both focus and motivate her themes of life, struggle, faith, and hopelessness... made more poignant and handsome by the poetic use of words and rhythm...”

“...A shining example of commercial pop at its best... Patsy Moore possesses a twinkling, delightfully understated voice which handles both the whimsical... and the reflective... with total ease and success... A rich, rewarding and special experience.”

“[Patsy Moore's work] is woven together with diversity.”

“[To listen] to Patsy Moore... is... [to be] treated to an art gallery of music.”

“Because of her diverse background, Moore is able to draw musical and lyrical inspiration from a vast pool of past art not limited to music.”

“Patsy Moore is living proof that 'simple' does not necessarily mean frivolous or unsophisticated. Her... way of looking at things is so honest that you let down your guard and drink in truth, almost without knowing it.”

“Already established as a successful songwriter, Patsy Moore is one of a [burgeoning] breed of... artists now happily stretching [her] genre into new, imaginative and uplifting territory.”

“The path to her... career has not been smooth, but the listener is all the better for the bumpy road Moore has endured, for she arrives at this juncture a mature and seasoned artist.”

“Occasionally, someone steps out of the mainstream to provide a unique and refreshing approach to... music. Patsy Moore is an artist who has taken that step.”

“This truly IS mood music.”

“Smart, poised and articulately passionate, Patsy Moore is pop music's Jodie Foster. Like the Oscar winner, she is of insistently cerebral ilk, but 'brainy' has never sounded... this hot...”

“Patsy Moore isn't following anyone, but setting [a] trend... The mainstream will take years to even catch up with [her].”

“Moore presents a menu featuring samples from most every contemporary musical form...[She] is impressive in [her] artistic growth and dexterity.”

“There is the overwhelming sense that [Moore is] destined for greatness. No doubt there are countless artists to come who will be influenced by her perspective...”

“Moore possesses a supple and expressive voice, an engaging visual presence, and the ability to couple intricate yet memorable melodies with [enlightened] lyrics... [One is left] slack-jawed upon hearing [her]...”

“[Moore's] music demonstrates a solid confidence...that juxtaposes well against the vulnerability of the characters in her songs.”

“Sounding a bit like Edie Brickell..., Moore combines the rhythms of Africa and the Caribbean with a popish sound that encompasses folk, soul, Latin, rock and funk. It makes for an interesting mix.”

“Patsy Moore makes jazzy, alternative pop with the added bonus of a sense of humor.”