The nine songs retain an insular, slept-in charm, with the same Californian Nick Drake brief as Mojave 3.

The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends runs the risk of turning into a cluttered affair, but what unfolds is an atmosphere of uninhibited adventure. [Sep 2012, p.100]

To a soundtrack of country blues and earthly soul, parallels are drawn with past and present injustices. [Apr 2017, p.112]

Harper recreated herself as a sultry electro diva ... it's a role she plays with panache on this full-length debut. [Dec. 2001 p. 125]

Solid, if a bit derivative. [Oct 2010, p.116]

The creative tension between the two is their main strength. It's when one or the other gains the upper hand that things can go awry. [June 2008, p.143]

Knapp can be as shrewdly sweet as Paul Simon or as drippy as a Sarah Records house band, dissecting heartache in teen-diary fashion--but the music is consistently grown up. [Dec 2008, p.108]

The first half of Heart On is a heroically hedonistic party, but it's the subsequent comedown that, inevitable, lingers longer. [Feb 2009, p.113]

This wonderfully sleazy chunk of dirty, dangerous rock'n'roll gets Stuart firmly back in the game. [Mar 2016, p.115]

Even if the songs aren't much more than workmanlike, they're good enough to showcase the man's still mighty roar and shattering guitar playing. [Jan 2011, p.142]

It's a good sound, and he has past form here. [Apr 2014, p.120]

It's not quite the classic they desperately want it to be, but Danger In The Club exudes a ragged rock'n'roll spirit which simply can't be manufactured. [Jun 2015, p.109]

The result is an album that feels mystifyingly oblique, but also unburdened with the pursuit of anything bar a gentle beauty. [Aug 2018, p.111]

There's something truly peculiar going on here, and worth pursuing. [Sep 2002, p.110]

Memory Streams is the sound of a band locked in a classy holding pattern. [Dec 2019, p.113]

The fifth album actually proves refreshingly unburdened by fashion. [Nov 2012, p.101]

Hansard's elastic vocals hit all the right notes. Missing, however, is an earthiness that could take these polished songs to another level. [Feb 2018, p.111]

The splicing of classical instrumentation with electronica and jazz flourishes may alienate his old band's fans, but there is much to admire here. [Oct 2010, p.120]

Danger Mouse's effect is apparent, the sparse guitar-and-drums template fleshed out with organ and banjo. [May 2008, p.126]

Despite the slight air of "tell me something I don't know" hanging over proceedings, both musically and lyrically, there is an earworming swagger here. [May 2018, p.112]

An album frontloaded with highlights, and probably too self-consciously cool to charm the mainstream, even when the energy fades there's still enough diversity here for most people to find a favourite. [June 2008, p.146]

It's hard not to feel disappointed by the sense that a band who have raised their game so many times have nowhere new to go. [May 2009, p.114]

Sometimes, these stresses and strains seem to swallow her dreamy synth-pop whole, but there's at least a striking EP's worth here. [Aug 2017, p.108]

There's stirring emotion to 'Pale Horses' restrained mournfulness and the soulful vocals on the minimal 'Walk With Me,' though it can sound as if has a button on his laptiop that wafts this stuff out automatically. [Aug 2009, p.108]

Those converted via the O Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack may find the starkness and religiosity here unpalatable. [Jan 2003, p.123]

Patchy and sometimes plodding... but that gruff, urgent voice remains a potent instrument in the right setting. [Feb 2002, p.106]

At times, this means overloading slight ideas, but when they get it right, as on the glorious 'Finish Line,' the results are irresitible. [Nov 2009, p.104]

Inspired by New York's Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, The BQE is an ambitious orchestration to accompany the film of the same name. [Dec 2009 p. 127]