Metascore
84

Universal acclaim - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
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  1. Nov 12, 2025
    80
    Even more so than on the already impressive Small Medium Large, SML have mastered their own musical language with How You Been.
  2. Mojo
    Nov 12, 2025
    80
    Hard to pin down, harder not to enjoy. [Jan 2026, p.90]
  3. Dec 1, 2025
    80
    There’s electricity in this music—literally coursing through guitar pedals, samplers, Eurorack modules, and the DAWs used in post-production, but also between the five musicians themselves.
  4. Record Collector
    Nov 12, 2025
    80
    Among the highlights, Taking Out The Trash's dissonant, Herbie Hancock-esque electronics are grounded by punk funk basslines; Stepping In/The Loop's repetitive, guitar-and-synthesizer rhythms prove giddily hypnotic while the shimmering Brood Board SHROOOM embraces celestial strains of ambient jazz. [Dec 2025, p.103]
  5. Mar 26, 2026
    85
    Throughout, the musicians seem to be cooking in their own worlds, but their parts fortuitously interlock and tasty grooves frequently arise. There’s so much going on in How You Been, and it’s all interesting.
  6. Nov 12, 2025
    80
    While track-sequencing can edge towards clunky territory at times, How You Been is a colourful murmuration of percussive, glacial synths and exploratory jazz interplay. Exciting, expansive and entrancing, SML are evidence of the supergroup’s enduring power.
  7. Uncut
    Nov 12, 2025
    80
    Tracks flirt with minimalism, spiky synth-pop and krautrock while creating an entirely original sonic language. [Review of the Year 2025, p.28]

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