Plunges him back to the old soundworld of heavily Auto-Tuned ballads (of the 12 tracks here, only Bread Believer is pacey) and a voice that sounds like it’s on the verge of tears, even if the lyrics sound more disorientated than tragic. .... But Maine’s nagging melodies hold up, and Shirt still feels convincingly real. [Oct 2024, p.84]

[Lekman] delivers a buoyant, frankly heart-wrenching, autobiographical album. [Oct 2012, p.86]

The awkward early passages of Pyramid/When The Poor Can reach The Moon would surely struggle to gain airplay in any decade, including this one, yet it ultimately rises to the kind of triumphant chorus at which Phillipps excels. [Nov 2015, p.87]

Polished mid-paced throbbers, alive with feedback, thumping drums and troubled lyrics. [Oct 2013, p.98]

His tendency to overemote can prove distracting. [Feb 2017, p.99]

Storm Damage's jazz-trio-do-singer-songwriter-ish arrangements are meticulous in their musicality, but the "personal anguish and political anger" which fired this album make for an intense, if rewarding listen. [Mar 2020, p.92]

It's a reversal of the usual wild and weird direction of extra-curricular albums: it's more commercial than Room On Fire! [Nov 2006, p.112]

North Star Deserter is unrestrained and always affecting. [Nov 2007, p.106]

Every inch of tape had emotional or melodic purpose. [Nov 2011, p.109]

It's good to hear him outfront, vivid, quirky, and unconfined. [Feb 2012, p.95]

He's got the lovesick blues, but his offering are not of the Hank Williams kind rather they are pages ripped from a personal diary. This could all add up to something of a drag were it not for Stamey's ability to tug at the heart-strings. [Mar 2013, p.87]

Both the rabbit hole ride of Comanche Moon and reverb-laden panic attack Death March--two highlights--could have been released at any point in the last half century. [May 2017, p.89]

It's a warm and heartfelt album. [May 2018, p.97]

A solid 11-song set. [May 2017, p.92]

Too often their untethered jangle neglects the other side of the tight-but-loose equation. [Jun 2016, p.97]

Guest vocalists save giddy, sampling sextet from "more of the same old" charges. [Feb. 2011, p. 97]

When Robert Smith guests on the strident How Not to Drown it's a perfect retro storm. Yet the opening Asking For A Friend has a very 2021 clatter, while Violent Delights evokes a sugar-free Ellie Goulding. [Oct 2021, p.98]

The strongest parts of this record have a yearning, almost devotional quality which can unlock something in the patient listeners. [Aug 2009, p.96]

It's confirmation that the old boy's still got a few tricks in him. [May 2015, p.90]

Not exactly left field, but on the right track. [Jun 2012, p.86]

Believe You me is something of an art-house installation. [Oct 2012, p.86]

Woman looks set to keep the leather-clad pair trucking for the foreseeable by bridging the propulsive beats of 2007's sweeping debut with the more baroque, borderline-cheesy prog aesthetic of 2011's Audio, Video, Disco. [Dec 2016, p.89]

Adrian Younge's ambitious album splices all-analogue blaxploitation sounds with psychedelia. It's a volatile mix for songs. [Apr 2021, p.83]

At its best the record soars, but After The Meteor Showers' slight echo of Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight" left your scribe cold. [Jul 200, p.97]

It's out with the neon-fugged, reverb-soaked beats of 2009's Seek Magic and in with straight-up, catchy tunes. [Aug. 2011, p. 100]

Adam Lee Miller and Nicola Kuperus have used a familiar creative trope--the artist in residence... Fittingly, Nitzer Ebb's Douglas J. McCarthy, whose own dislocated, radical electronica feels like an overt influence. [Apr 2017, p.97]

Warmer layers are added to sparse, insistent electronics, culminating in Unificado, a nine-minute high-point of fuzz pedal density. [Apr 2019, p.96]

It's hard not to wish for more. Or maybe less. [Feb 2012, p.95]