Elisabeth Maurus's second album finds her still awkwardly straddling the divide between sensitive songwriter and would-be stadium rocker. [Oct 2013, p.106]

The year-round sunshine [of new home L.A.] seems to have induced creative lethargy, sapping the adventure that elevated his last album. [Jun 2003, p.106]

Hardly exciting, but it is terrifyingly professional. [Dec 2002, p.110]

There's much daftness along the way. [Aug 2002, p.121]

Their sound speaks more of artifice than inspiration. [July 2002, p.112]

Occasionally it's so insane that you can't help but be swept along with it. Mostly, however, it's so over the top the more likely reaction is to run it off and make sure you don't hear it again in a hurry. [Dec. 2011 p. 122]

Chalk this one down purely to an arrangement of Tinseltown convenience. [Oct 2009, p.115]

With songs this weak, Randall's Norfolk-flat voice has nowhere to hide. [Oct 2013, p.107]

There are suggestions of better directions not taken. [Jul 2019, p.113]

This finds the Californians bulking out five lead-footed new tracks with live versions of their handful of hits. The whiff of desperation. [Oct 2010, p.103]

This is a luxurious but ultimately hollow Faberge egg of a record. [Feb 2014, p.121]

Even when HitNRun improves, it implies creative drought. [Nov 2015, p.102]

It's an accomplished production--but an unambitious production, a reluctance to soar. [Apr 2015, p.102]

When Mendel cranks things up, he's on shakier ground. [May 2015, p.107]

Birthmarks is far from being a poor record, but it's limited in ambition and reach. [May 2013, p.97]

A mess. [Feb 2003, p.107]

Wonky vocals and a lack of guile strangle the project, not least on Efflictim, where a terminal aimlessness befits the melodramatic-teen lyric[s]. [Jun 2012, p.115]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with Mono, but bands such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Explosions In The Sky do it better. [Aug 2004, p.116]

There are moments... as good and chart-friendly as anything by Royksopp or Mylo.... But most of the time they prefer to trade in dreary whimsy. [Jun 2006, p.116]

The likes of Up The Junction and Cool For Cats still sound fabulous, but it's a mystery why they didn't just remaster one of their collections. [Dec 2010, p.114]

Sometimes less is more. [Jan 2010, p.117]

But for all the acerbic intelligence at play, the pretentious delivery makes this self-satisfied project hard to embrace. [Dec 2004, p.134]

There's little that's newly inspired and, aside from the understated Always Tomorrow, nothing superior to past glories. [Aug 2005, p.132]

There's a late sunburst of sweet vocal harmonies and folk rock riffs on closing track Night And Day, but it's not enough to save this dreary album. [Oct 2010, p.104]

The new electronic direction is likely to lose more fans than it gains.

There's been a strong sense of diminishing returns. [Dec 2014, p.109]

Guitars jangle and fuzz to no clear purpose, the rest of the instrumentation plods behind, and singer Wayne Petti fails to convince. [Dec 2012, p.103]. [Dec 2012, p.103]

Ultimately, it's good to know they're out there straining every nerve, vein and eyeball, even if those who'll want to listen to it more than twice are surely few. [Jun 2012, p.101]