They've never been subtle, but they're still highly effective. [Mar 2010, p.93]

It doesn't work when she wails and chants her way through the closing Sun, but she's absolutely fearless, as rigorous as The Moody Blues circa Days Of Future Passed and as adventurous as Can circa Future Days. [Jul 2020, p.82]

He is so clearly in his element that you can just hand over the controls. [Oct 2019, p.97]

Some of the vocal processing, though pushed to the extreme, will be a little familiar to Bon Iver fans/sceptics. Persevere, though, and yet more classic Low songs emerge from the post-apocalyptic murk. [Oct 2018, p.87]

The focus remains upon Lightbody's gauche romantic vignettes; nirvana for those who believe the world could usefully sustain a second Lou Barlow, but over an album's duration akin to persistent immersion in lukewarm herbal tea. [Sep 2002, p.104]

A good listen. that slightly misses the debut's exuberant cohesion. [Aug 2014, p.86]

A sound that lies somewhere in between early Beach House and breezy, ambient techno. [Sep 2013, p.96]

An enjoyable, if surprisingly safe, collection of roots rock. [Jul 2005, p.102]

While there's nothing here to touch 1999's moving, Cinemascopic downtempo classic Les Nuits, it's an eclectic offering, deliberately in keeping with the Balearic paradigm Evelyn once helped shape. [Oct 2013, p.91]

Behind the moments that sound like megachurch guided meditation, however, are flashes of brilliant disturbance. .... Sophie stands as a monument to what might have been. [Dec 2024, p.92]

Certainly, the music here is very often brilliant. ... .Paak's tendency for juvenile and preening bad-boy bluster is a recurring weakness. [Feb 2019, p.84]

With little in the way of banjo now, nearly every song comes steeped in acoustic piano, while the vocals are pitched to eke out every last chunk of substance from well-honed lyrics. [May 2010, p.93]

The Austin Doors ramp up the psych-pop tunes. [Oct. 2010, p. 97]

Moonshine occupies that rich space between hope and melancholy, smooth, maybe, but not without its hooks and catches. [Aug 2022, p.90]

It doesn't all work; but when it does, it's wonderfully widescreen. [Jun 2018, p.96]

Despite her emotional punk-meets-Brecht contralto, Marianne's vocal limitations are clear on tracks like 'Easy Come, Easy Go' or Sondheim's Somewhere (A Place For Us)' which she struggles through with an overawed Jarvis Cocker. But she shines on songs that seem more personal to her. [Apr 2009, p.99]

Recorded in analogue, Echo Kid is his love letter to '70s AM rock radio. [Jan 2010, p. 93]

Though the bleak, froideur-laden Going Wrong and Milky Blau also impress, here are moments when W reneges on Doorway's great promise. [Jun 2011, p.105]

The odd uptempo beat rather jars. [Jul 2013, p.96]

Predictable, perhaps, to mention Torrini's compatriot Bjork. ... Ultimately, though, RTS charts its own path. [Apr 2023, p.91]

A record which is less abrasive and more measured, if slightly wishy-washy from time to time. [Sep 2013, p.96]

Rich, sonic politesse on offer here. [Apr 2017, p.99]

The pieces here are teeming with small melodic and rhythmic details across a range of textures. [Mar 2019, p.87]

Mines dips and twists spindly, telescopic guitar lines, taut coils of rhythm and controlled electronic pulses. [Oct. 2010, p. 100]

Only a fraction of the songs here reach a truly memerizing apex. [Sep 2008, p.110]

All serious stuff--but it never quite sounds that way because the Levs provide rugged anthems for crowd consumption. [Sep 2008, p.111]

It suggest that a future as pullover wearing folkies is theirs for the taking if they fancied it. [Mar 2015, p.94]

At once brooding and beautiful. [Jun 2018, p.97]