It's a riot of scattershot styles. [Jun 2013, p.81]

The rather prissy album versions are given room to breathe and take on a rather more energetic cabaret feel. [Nov 2009, p.109]

It starts promisingly.... Elsewhere, sadly, The Traveling Kind is rather a plod. [Jun 2015, p.84]

In their careers, this band might prove to be a sideshow. But right now, it's one with the possibility of being as gripping as the main event. [Jan 2010, p. 104]

Ten years ago this hand-stitched tapestry of astral-jazz harp, dusty acoustics, crackling breakbeats, music-box twinkles and twitchy "Intelligent Dance Music" might have seemed bravely genre-bending, but now it's as cosy a pair of favourite slippers. [Feb 2010, p.84]

It has its moments. [Nov 2016, p.39]

There's a naivety at play here, recalling Daniel Johnston, Vashti Bunyan and Syd Barrett. [Jul 2006, p.86]

Songs packed with macabre humour, melodic contortion and gruesome discord. [Mar 2019, p.27]

Darnielle dresses songs of romance, heartache, and travel in elegant leaps of language. [Mar 2008, p.96]

These veteran North Carolinians invariably put out albums of spirit, vim and polished Americana, with songs that boast powerful melodies and gorgeous harmonies. [Oct 2010, p.89]

A grandiose power metal pomposity that marshals such gusts of keyboard and flowery, Yngwie Malmsteen guitar duelling it basically feels like a climax strung out over 60 minutes; epic in short bursts, slightly tiring in the long haul. [Nov 2008, p.92]

Much like The Head And The Heart, it's all mid-paced, with subject matter also inevitably static. [Oct 2020, p.32]

Feeling more airbrushed than lo-fi. [Jul 2011, p.79]

As usual, Pollard sabotages his commercial potential with weak production values and occasionally straining vocals. [Dec 2006, p.121]

It's likable enough, but pretty much interchangeable with the seven studio albums that preceded it. [Nov 2010, p.94]

This album is overflowing with ideas that the band don't have the means--or, indeed, the patience--to explore fully. [Feb 2009, p.85]

An ambitious collaborative affair showcasing female and non-binary musicians. [Jun 2025, p.33]

This is a soundscape bordered by The Flaming Lips and the Pixies, and mapped with verve. [Mar 2010, p.81]

Moments of startling beauty emerge from the fuzz-drenched experiments. [Sep 2005, p.112]

Simple acoustic music lined with occasional piano and an inglenook voice owing much to early Joni Mitchell or Carole King. [Aug 2006, p.93]

His 2012 debut Silent Congas was somewhat piecemeal, but I Need New Eyes feels more developed, less contrived. [Nov 2015, p.76]

It's all a little too eagerly oddball at times, but generally avoids the trapdoor marked Novelty. [Dec 2014, p.78]

He's backed by an orthodox guitar/bass/drums trio, which sometimes renders inert his unorthodox rhymes. [Apr 2015, p.76]

Haines' mean-spirited gifts abide, but Airfix cannot mend a broken spirit. [Jun 2018, p.28]

The collection is a little frontloaded, petering out with some tracks of solo guitar, bass and drums. [Feb 2011, p.82]

As a whole it feel overfamiliar, with little of the cohesiveness that made, say, Les Revenants so powerful. [Oct 2018, p.30]

Sonically exhilarating, yet the lyrical content remains as alluring as vomit on a Sunday morning pavement. [Sep 2001, p.104]