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Smother

Wild Beasts

Smother

Third album and follow up to the acclaimed Two Dancers from the Lake District indie rock quartet

ADM rating[?]

8.2

Label
Domino
UK Release date
09/05/2011
US Release date
10/05/2011
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  1. 10.0 |   State

    While Two Dancers made apparent that Wild Beasts had become a great band, Smother confirms that they have now transformed into nothing less than an important band
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  2. 10.0 |   Independent on Sunday

    Tinkles and twinkles like the classiest adult-alternative pop of the 1980s
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  3. 10.0 |   Entertainment.ie

    An absolute stunner from beginning to end
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  4. 9.5 |   BBC

    They are, right now, the most inspirational, intriguing, effortlessly enrapturing band at work on these shores. And Smother might well prove to be the album of 2011
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  5. 9.0 |   Rave Magazine

    Despite being more introspective and less sexual than Two Dancers, it remains equally as enjoyable – if not more so – than its predecessor
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  6. 9.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    An album for anyone who’s ever engaged in a relationship best defined as ‘it’s complicated’
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  7. 9.0 |   NME

    An extraordinarily elegant, stunning, (near)-perfect portrait of how terribly bad decisions can turn out
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  8. 9.0 |   Clash

    ‘Smother’ does exactly what it suggests but with a poetic fragility and an exacting panache that enthrals and entices like never before. An essential album
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  9. 9.0 |   musicOMH

    An evolution that will please both Wild Beasts' early adopters and the many converts that will surely follow from what is, without doubt, one of the stand out releases of the year
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  10. 9.0 |   PopMatters

    Smother reveals itself as the type of masterwork so fragile and unobtrusive as to leave itself vulnerable to being brushed away by those listeners without patience
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  11. 9.0 |   DIY

    The new Wild Beasts album is the equal of its predecessor
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  12. 9.0 |   AU Review

    Wild Beasts have crafted a sumptuous album
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  13. 9.0 |   The Quietus

    Wild Beasts' finest album to date, and in turn makes them one of the UK's finest bands
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  14. 8.5 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    A new, wealthy batch of ideas, a considerable amount of progression and the preservation of what made a previous record so outstanding
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  15. 8.3 |   A.V. Club

    Given enough time, it seems destined to take its rightful place among indie-rock’s great humping albums
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  16. 8.2 |   Pitchfork

    Smother is ... completely uncompromising. And that's why it succeeds
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  17. 8.0 |   Consequence Of Sound

    Wild Beasts continue to transcend conventional pop music with yet another great addition to their catalog
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  18. 8.0 |   Scotland on Sunday

    Vocalists Hayden Thorpe and Tom Fleming have qualities that would meet with the late Billy McKenzie's approval
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  19. 8.0 |   The Digital Fix

    Smother is most certainly one of the finest albums released in 2011 so far. Beautiful, haunting and thoroughly enjoyable
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  20. 8.0 |   God Is In The TV

    A well-crafted, mysterious and utterly spellbinding album
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  21. 8.0 |   Blurt

    Smother continues in the Mercury Nominated Two Dancers (2009) path of more disciplined theatricality
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  22. 8.0 |   The Fly

    In an age of downloads and iTunes charts, this is an album that truly works best as a cohesive whole
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  23. 8.0 |   The Independent

    Smother finds Wild Beasts hurdling that difficult third album with some aplomb.
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  24. 8.0 |   The Guardian

    Smother isn't conventional chart material, but will make their burgeoning cult impossible to ignore
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  25. 8.0 |   The Skinny

    Wild Beasts have taken inspiration from a myriad of musical sources (electronica, prog rock, opera even) and condensed it into their own unique brand of pop. Impressive
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  26. 8.0 |   Uncut

    It is not only Wild Beasts' finest album to date, but one of the best you're likely to hear all year
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  27. 8.0 |   Mojo

    10 tracks of full moon, ambient rock music shot through with romance and polymorphous exoticism. Print edition only

  28. 8.0 |   Q

    It's a valiant attempt to rethink the love song. Print edition only

  29. 8.0 |   The List

    The same queasy feeling of mixed pleasure and regret that Pulp captured at their peak is all over this album like the smell of unwashed bedsheets
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  30. 8.0 |   No Ripcord

    An exercise in moderation, trying to find the precise balance between audacious beauty and emotional intelligence
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  31. 8.0 |   The Observer

    These brooding songs coax a wonderful strangeness from their interplay of voices, murky grooves and ringing guitars
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  32. 8.0 |   Evening Standard

    Confirms Wild Beasts as being unique and uniquely thrilling
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  33. 7.5 |   Bowlegs

    A band in full flow, playing to their strengths, brimming with confidence
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  34. 7.2 |   Beats Per Minute

    Captivating, even if it takes a while to reach second base
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  35. 7.0 |   Spin

    Wild Beasts' third album does more with less, paring down the quartet's groove-inflected chamber pop to expose raw burning desire
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  36. 6.5 |   Prefix

    Maybe it’s because we’ve come to expect these guys to knock us out with each album, but Smother can’t help but feel like a misstep
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  37. 6.0 |   Under The Radar

    The Beasts have been tamed. Frankly, that’s a disappointment, because it’s when Wild Beasts are mischievous and uninhibited, when they’re “hooting and howling,” that they’re at their most charming and enchanting
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  38. 5.0 |   Tiny Mix Tapes

    Smother has already been placed on par with Talk Talk's Laughing Stock and Spirit of Eden, which is hyperbole
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  39. Back to main chart

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Wild Beasts: Smother

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