Albums to watch

Church With No Magic

PVT

Church With No Magic

Second album of electronic math rock from Australian trio (previously known as Pivot)

ADM rating[?]

7.1

Label
Warp
UK Release date
09/08/2010
  1. 9.0 |   Rave Magazine

    Church With No Magic is cohesive, locked into a dense industrial groove that hits peaks of earth-shattering drums and synths that swallow your ears whole, then dips into warm lakes of glowing analogue tones
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  2. 8.0 |   NME

    PVT don’t cower at the feet of their influences so much as stand shoulder to shoulder with them
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  3. 8.0 |   The Skinny

    Brothers Richard and Laurence Pike provided the angular rock muscle to Dave Miller’s dark-edged sci-fi synths, reimagining John Carpenter armed with Battles and Autechre records for influence
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  4. 8.0 |   AU Review

    PVT have rolled with the punches and, with Church With No Magic, come up smiling
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  5. 8.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    PVT’s musical imagination is proudly displayed from the initial swirls of ‘Community’ through Pike’s best vocal work on ‘Only The Wind Can Hear You’
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  6. 8.0 |   PopMatters

    A mix of high art and pop songcraft, music that will make you nod your head both to the beat and to a sense of real intrigue and admiration
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  7. 7.1 |   Pitchfork

    Emphasizing the notion that this is brainy music would be ignoring the fact that PVT frequently achieve melodic catharsis on Church With No Magic
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  8. 7.0 |   The Digital Fix

    Proving not only PVT’s ability as progressive leaders in the world of electronica, but also their talent of being able to twizzle almost every knob imaginable
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  9. 7.0 |   The Quietus

    Even when they're not playing peculiar games with what ought to have been straightforward songs, PVT still refuse to let their newfound sense of mischief and wonder desert them
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  10. 7.0 |   FasterLouder

    They have brought upon themselves a transition that can either be seen as another interesting step forward, or an unnecessary step back. It’s not one they have completely grasped upon on Church With No Magic, yet the album still proves that they are light-years ahead of most musicians in this world.
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  11. 7.0 |   BBC

    Let Church... play through a few times and its charms become evident. Circle of Friends and the quite lovely Window pull off the trick of sounding both claustrophobic and expansive at the same time
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  12. 7.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    With each subsequent listen, the readout dial wavers more wildly between the 5 and the 9 mark, never quite deciding on where it will come to fall. The enigma that is PVT, then
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  13. 6.0 |   musicOMH

    There's an exciting and engaging mini-album here but, across the album as a whole, PVT seem to be straining for a gravitas that their music does not entirely justify
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  14. 6.0 |   The Irish Times

    Guttural synth lines, vocals that toggle between Gregorian monks, David Byrne and Ian Curtis, and off-kilter rhythms . . . Who says there's no magic here?
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  15. 6.0 |   State

    It once again shows the Australians’ ability to cram myriad ideas into 90-second chunks. Unfortunately not all of these ideas have the stamina to last over the length of an album
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  16. 6.0 |   Uncut

    Print edition only


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PVT: Church With No Magic

  • Download full album for just £7.99
  • 1. Community £0.99
  • 2. Light Up Bright Fires £0.99
  • 3. Church With No Magic £0.99
  • 4. Crimson Swan £0.99
  • 5. Window £0.99
  • 6. The Quick Mile £0.99
  • 7. Waves & Radiation £0.99
  • 8. Circle Of Friends £0.99
  • 9. Timeless £0.99
  • 10. Only The Wind Can Hear You £0.99
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