The first thing I thought when I got "Obey the Cattle" was: "Whoa. This is a small release." I didn't really mean it in regards to its length, as it's plenty long. I meant it in the way the CD has been put together. This CD features ten songs, none of them titled. 9 of these songs are instrumental, with a guitar being the main instrument. There is only one painting as album art, no thank-you's, no lyrics, and not even any pictures of the man. The only words on the entire album are on the spine (which clearly tells us that this is "Obey the Cattle" by Rajiv Patel), and on his record label's insignia (Sunset Alliance).

So, this is a very unassuming release. That's rather odd, as Mr. Patel is very, very good at playing his guitar, and good guitarists are usually full of themselves. But not this time: Patel continually amazed me with his humble, mellow style that borrows heavily from Indian (India the country, not Native American) music. The music gives you a feel of drifting away, which is very nice.

The problem with this is one that plagues many instrumental albums: It all runs together. And not only does it all run together, but as you get to the songs farther and farther into the album, it gets harder and harder to enjoy. It's already a peculiar playing style, but once this peculiar style is over-exploited, it just becomes hard to swallow. Once you finally break through the shell (around the 6th listen to the album yes, I have spent that much time listening to this album) all the subtleties break through to you, and this becomes a stellar release, full of intricate touches. It just takes a long time to break into, Like Radiohead, only less pretentious.