This is a beguiling breeze of an album that never loses its cool.

They've simply honed their sound to an aggressively melodic point. [May 2015, p.104]

A richly rewarding listen. [Jul 2006, p.114]

It's heartening to see a band still in the grip of an ideas overload 11 albums in. [Nov 2012, p.94]

Play[s] the kitsch-folk game with real panache. [Feb 2006, p.101]

Home Before Dark offers a dignified and, yes, hip addition to the Neil Diamond canon. [July 2008, p.110]

There's clarity on The Haunted Man that comes from the sense of physical boundaries being pushed, of personal space being tested to its limits. [Nov 2012, p.97]

A sense of dread pervades throughout. [Mar 2013, o.101]

As much an art piece as it is a pop record, EWAB would make the perfect accompaniment to an afternoon flat on your back at a sun-strafed festival. [Jul 2015, p.106]

It's hard to recall specific songs once they're over and the tracks not sung in French puncture the atmosphere a bit, but overall, oil lamp projector-lit vibe is an enjoyable one. [Jun 2016, p.113]

All in all, the treatment effectively lights these already great songs from fresh angles, revealing hidden depths and added poignancy to what was already a strikingly powerful set of songs. [Sep 2019, p.116]

Cover Two shows no dimming of eclectic tastes or interpretive skills. [Jul 2020, p.108]

Atmospheric and richly layered, their best moments tap the same ecstatic eclecticism of fellow travellers Sufjan Stevens and Beirut's Zach Condon. [Nov 2008, p.114]

The results are psychedelic, frequently surreal and occasionally brilliant. [Mar 2008, p.99]

It's not all politico-provocation; pretty duet Honeysuckle and minimalist piano ballad The Oldness counterbalance the more outspoken moments nicely. [April 2012, p.107]

What could easily have sounded contrived instead works wonderfully. [Jun 2013, p.96]

It's magical stuff. [July 2011, p. 116]

As armistice appears to exist on this sixth album; the more ethereal elements of the band's sound have been reined in, but so has much of the agresion, resulting in a smoother ride that allows Moreno's melodic ear to shine and seduce. [Jun 2010, p.123]

A bit of a gimmick maybe, but one that pays off, with Mellencamp relishing his role as grizzled troubadour steeped in the rootsy traditions of America's rural South. [Oct 2010, p.111]

Beams is more expansive and vulnerable that the nightclubbing menace of 2010's Black City. [Sep 2012, p.99]

This is a record of stormy intensity, hauling its emotions up to the mountainside to expose them to the elements. [Mar 2018, p.115]

The first section--an intoxicating invocation of sea voyages and Bacchanalian rites--is richly instrumental, the second an otherworldly swirl of chants and ecstatic song that couldn't have been made by anyone but them. [Jan 2019, p.106]

It can occasionally cloy, but on The Prettiest Curse, Hinds are on fighting form. [Jun 2020, p.100]

She plainly knows the meaning and benefit of brevity. [Apr 2013, p.110]

When it all gels, you can forgive the occasional bout of navel-gazing self-indulgence. [Jun 2005, p.120]

Want Two isn't an immediate album, but what it lacks in pop hooks in makes up for in ambition. [Mar 2005, p.92]

It is still a loose affair, but it allows the quartet to explore the far reaches of their songs rather than just wander folk's outer soloar system. [Nov 2009, p.103]

Mariachi horns and guitar twang still form the backbone of a striking return to what they do best. [Oct 2008, p.141]