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Not Even Happiness
by
Not Even Happiness Image
Metascore
82

Universal acclaim - based on 22 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.1

Universal acclaim- based on 57 Ratings

  • Summary: The second full-length release for the singer-songwriter was produced by Eric Littman and was recorded at her childhood home in upstate New York.
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Top Track

Sleepwalker
I lived my life alone before you And with thoughts that I'd never succeed into love And I grew so accustomed to that kind of solitude Ah, 'fore you I... See the rest of the song lyrics
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 22
  3. Negative: 0 out of 22
  1. Consequence
    Feb 10, 2017
    91
    There’s something to be said for the potential for personal growth inherent in traveling without a destination, and every song here is the sound of Julie Byrne making peace with her restlessness.
  2. The 405
    Jan 17, 2017
    90
    However she managed it, whatever we will take from it as it settles, delving further past its placid surface into its cavernous mystery will surely remain one of the year's earliest true pleasures.
  3. Pitchfork
    Feb 6, 2017
    83
    Blending folk, new age, and silence, Not Even Happiness is a balm. In both sound and sensibility, it strives for clarity, that ultimate marker of enlightenment.
  4. Mojo
    Jan 3, 2017
    80
    There's something romantic about this quiet, thoughtful music, but there's a sad quality to it too. [Feb 2017, p.94]
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  5. The Guardian
    Jan 12, 2017
    80
    This second album might not hang together were it not for the fact Byrne herself appears immersed within the worlds she sings about--there’s something pleasingly organic about the way she almost seems to exhale the melodies.
  6. Record Collector
    Jan 6, 2017
    80
    Not Even Happiness is intent on taking us back to the garden and in these cynical times, perhaps there’s a vacuum across the ocean for artists that are warmer, purer, less needy than the careerist indie-rock that has gone before. Long may this Morning Dove not Tweet.
  7. Q Magazine
    Jan 3, 2017
    60
    Occasionally, Byrne subtly expands her musical palette with strings and woodwind, but never at the expense of her own guitar and vocals. [Feb 2017, p.111]
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User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. Theycallmejhonn
    Feb 15, 2017
    10
    Insanely good album from start to finish, is very pleasing to ear, her songwriting is spectacular, when i hear i feel in a cloud movingInsanely good album from start to finish, is very pleasing to ear, her songwriting is spectacular, when i hear i feel in a cloud moving through a garden of soothing happiness is just wonderful.… Expand
  2. WhiskeyStories
    Jun 28, 2018
    8
    Julie Byrne gently comforts and rocks me into bittersweet melancholy with Not Even Happiness. Whenever I feel anxious this album always helpsJulie Byrne gently comforts and rocks me into bittersweet melancholy with Not Even Happiness. Whenever I feel anxious this album always helps me to calm down.… Expand
  4. All_ButTrU4
    Nov 24, 2021
    7
    Insanely good album from start to finish, is very pleasing to ear, her songwriting is spectacular, when i hear i feel in a cloud movingInsanely good album from start to finish, is very pleasing to ear, her songwriting is spectacular, when i hear i feel in a cloud moving through a garden of soothing happiness is just wonderful.… Expand