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8.4
117528
8.4 |
Gig Soup
8Similar fare to The Afghan Whigs but no less brilliant because of it
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8.0
117287
8.0 |
PopMatters
Greg Dulli's Random Desire is striking in its unified exploration of what comes after — years after — a heartbreak. Not a mere collection of 10 songs, it is an album in the classic sense, each track as essential as a chapter in a book or a scene from a movie
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8.0
117111
8.0 |
Uncut
Dulli remains a restless and unpredictable frontman, constantly distorting his voice from a soaring falsetto into a bellowing bass, as though he's just getting started. Print edition only
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8.0
117112
8.0 |
Q
He's at his best when he's playing a velvet-voiced Mephistopheles on A ghost or leading a spectral New Orleans jazz band on through the low-key electronic soundscape of Lockless. Print edition only
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8.0
117117
8.0 |
Northern Transmissions
To hear him still crafting such beautiful honesty, that just skirts around the edges of darkness we’ve come to expect from him, is wildly wonderful and just the latest addition to a gorgeous legacy of music that keeps on growing
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7.3
117113
7.3 |
Pitchfork
The Afghan Whigs leader's debut solo album balances guitar-slashing catharsis with candelabra-lit elegance, taking inspired tangents from his signature nocturnal sensibility without departing from it entirely
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7.0
117114
7.0 |
American Songwriter
Dulli revels in murky, edgy, often choppy waters as he shifts from a booming baritone to falsetto in songs that won’t be troubling the hit parade anytime soon
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7.0
117115
7.0 |
Exclaim
Dulli has spent his whole career as a shape-shifting storyteller and Random Desire sees this continue. While most of his remaining '90s contemporaries have become self-parodies, Dulli continually finds ways to explore the hidden pain of the human experience
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7.0
117228
7.0 |
Rolling Stone
It all comes together in the best way on “A Ghost,” a dusky song with Nick Cavey chimes, cinematic strings, and weeping steel guitar, on which Dulli’s voice seems to become one with the music
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6.0
117262
6.0 |
Kerrang!
At its strongest when Greg finds new ways to express himself
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6.0
117118
6.0 |
Punk News
Dulli layers everything very nicely; there’s lap steels, harps, organs, pianos, castanets. But some of the songs here are rhythmically and melodically just very flat, which doesn’t mix well with such a dense foundation
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6.0
117116
6.0 |
Mojo
While the key of Random Desire is mostly subterranean, when the serpentine build of The Tide breaks, the impact is undeniably soulful and powerful. Print edition only
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