If you crave that ineffable something Abba achieved, then it's only glimpsed here. [Jun 2013, p.84]

American indie cult heroes get a little noisier, a little more obscure [June 2010, p. 104]

It's Ry [Cooder] who handles the production chores and does that capably. [Sep 2016, p.94]

The hits may well keep rolling in for Years & Years, but next time a bit more adventure wouldn't go amiss. [Sep 2015, p.87]

1991's indie strivers and success stories, over three nugget-selected discs. [Mar 2022, p.98]

With Tek on growly vocals, Two To One feels closer to Birdman's hypermelodic chug than any Stooges explosion. [Nov 2020, p.88]

West's intimations of mainstream modern pop sit alongside the less direct and impressionistic. [Mar 2026, p.89]

Chilled psych-folk from a surreal world. [Jan 2019, p.92]

[The album] is diverse in the songs' styles and themes. [Oct 2012, p.96]

Most tracks are sophisticated, jazzy pop songs and ballads about relationships, but the angry young man of yore occasionally peeps over the parapet. [Feb 2008, p.102]

Support from Howe Gelb, Patty Griffin and more, but things never really take off. [Feb 2012, p.99]

It's a voice that dictates the tone and timber of every other element: the clipped, bass-driven, soulful blues dances delicately around those molasses tones and,at times, you can almost feel his breath in your ear. [Apr 2011, p.98]

Younge's Axelrodish take on orchestral soul dominates. [Sep 2018, p.96]

Mike Scott still has something worthwhile to say, but on Out Of All This Blue you wish there was a little less of it. [Out 2017, p.91]

A few numbers tread too similar a beat; but then there's the gumshoe monologue of Brexit At Tiffany's and The Sergio Leone mash-up of Saint Michael - which is windswept, stately and might, just might be hopeful. [Jun 2022, p.91]

The standout is a take on Nothing Compares 2 U, Prince's adroit vocal melody a showcase for Cornell's affectionate, bluesier reading. Elsewhere, Harry Nilsson's Jump Into The Fire is toughened-up and much abridged. [Apr 2021, p.80]

To Bolero-riffed beat-pop, Soul Capturer beautifully exorcises today's digi-overload, while 22-minute Defeat finds hope in an entrancing oceanic ebb-and-flow, with all the child-like discovery of late'90s Mercury Rev. [Nov 2023, p.86]

It wanders and drifts moodily now and then, but there also some strong songs. [Feb 2012, p.99]

While still connected to soul's sacred wellspring, frames his artisanal songcraft in more modernist settings. [Jun 2018, p.95]

Ultimately, though, the resolutely rubbish recordings--distorted, trebly drum breaks, scratchy guitars, monotonous voices--and near-total absence of melody, might test your stamina for mindless entertainment. [May 2003, p.104]

This dispararte set is a promising indicator of what its debut album might hold: wistful, psychedelic musing, gentle folk and splashes of electric blues. [Mar 201, p.100]

Songs draws itself into clearer focus through Lenker's sweet, freshly-cut voice. [Nov 2020, p.83]

The album lags in some of its quieter moments, but still stands as a fine successor in the righteous roots line that includes The Band and The Staples Singers. [Oct 2018, p.93]

They come across as a self-contained, insular studio band, with tunes aching to break free of the driving wall of guitars. [May 2005, p.96]

As usual, it mixes vintage country, soul and R&B. Be cool, however, listen on, and it comes together. [Oct 2011, p.106]

This album works best when it gives its ideas and sounds space. [Feb 2021, p.86]

Instrumentals with texture and surface but not much substance make the LP trail off in a sequence make the LP trail off in a sequence of audio watercolours possibly in need of a big screen and some diverting pictures. [Nov 2008, p.112]

There's something of the counsellor's couch about these songs, a record that trembles between acute self-awareness, self-laceration and self-preservation in its quest for "the deep blue OK". [Jun 2025, p.82]