The album is dominated by her fine, Jolie Holland-style whimsical vocals, backed by gorgeous arrangements from the mulch-instrumental band. [Mar 2013, p.70]

Other than the limp "Money," they ["Lose Control" and "Push Yourself"] pull these off pretty well--they're certainly more memorable than bog-standard guitar anthem "welcome To The Rave." [Mar 2013, p.69]

It's a vibrant set with a live feel, alternating between rowdy folk-rockers and some of Thompson's most poignant ballads. [Mar 2013, p.77]

12 pummeling songs of Black Flag-like thump, laced with bleak humour. [Mar 2013, p.76]

Country Sleep will never get a party swinging, but if you're in the mood to have your heart ripped out, it does the job beautifully. [Mar 2013, p.75]

The quality zigzags, but Doughty maintains an agreeably impish spirit. [Mar 2013, p.70]

James Devlin adds orchestral strings and cinematic melodrama to his hard-edged urban rhymes on this cluttered second album. [Mar 2013, p.70]

Holy Fire doesn't quite unfurl its devil horns.... But the production heft from Flood and Alan Moulder, as well as the shameless but satisfying amount of delayed guitar, means it all has serious stadium credentials. [Mar 2013, p.72]

At their best, they sound like a still-warm, half-remembered dream. [Feb 2013, p.79]

The bucolic reverie can't mask the suspicion that something vital is missing. [Mar 2013, p.69]

The songs, musically dazzling with strings and fetching arrangements, sometimes organise themselves into forceful hooks. [Mar 2013, p.77]

A delicate, moving album. [Mar 2013, p.80]

Depleted, but not defeated. [Mar 2013, p.92]

Increasingly straight, maybe, but Wooden Wand still possess a magic touch. [Mar 2013, p.79]

It's a record packed with earworms and a deliciously deadpan charm. [Mar 2013, p.79]

A thrilling, surprisingly melodic dialogue. [Mar 2013, p.77]

The scratchy lo-fi production doubles its mystery, resulting in an album of sensual pleasures and magical power. [Mar 2013, p.77]

A well-rounded triumph. [Mar 2013, p.76]

The songs are all traditional but are given a cool Scandinavian edge. [Mar 2013, p.75]

Wonderful, Glorious sounds, throughout, overwhelmingly like an Eels album.... This consistency has to be admired as testament to the robustness of E's vision. [Mar 2013, p.74]

The effect [sung wordlessly, a cappella, with a multi-tracked choir humming the arrangements] is initially comic but soon becomes utterly mesmeric. [Mar 2013, p.72]

The result is a lovingly recorded scrap of splendour and beauty that takes some of the more interesting elements of MMJ and runs with them in a series of unexpected directions. [Mar 2013, p.71]

The result is a fresh and invigoratingly modern take on black music and as far removed from a musical history lesson as you get. [Mar 2013, p.69]

[It's] a kind of remedial emo-psych-rock, where dunderheaded riffs meet go-nowhere spurts of electronics, while ponderous guitar shadows equally ponderous keys. [Mar 2013, p.68]

It's not as scintillating as we've come to expect from the OutKast camp, but plenty of fun nonetheless. [Mar 2013, p.67]

His technical prowess is thrilling in its time signature hopping. [Mar 2013, p.65]

Mid Air amounts to 14 enigmatic variations on this mood, just piano, voice, the occasional pale moonbeam of orchestration, which miraculously never feels monotonous or morose.

The album seems designed to be experienced immersively in the solitude of a dark room. [Feb 2013, p.78]