19 May 2013
Here's how it works: The Recent Releases chart brings together critical reaction to new albums from more than 50 publications worldwide. It's updated daily. Albums qualify with 5 reviews, and drop out after 6 weeks into the longer timespan charts.
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Ethereal 60s influenced indie pop / dream pop on the debut album from the London band
7.4
Feels like a train that has been diverted off down a strange and enchanting branch line by mistake...taking in some magical scenery that might have come from the imagination of Tim Burton Read Review
A compelling first stab at record-making Read Review
They've created a world far beyond their monochrome-tinged performances Read Review
Creatures of an Hour unveils its dramas and beauty with slow, stately elegance and panache, like scenes from a smokey black-and-white French New Wave flick Read Review
This is a fine debut album. Tessa Murray's voice is gorgeously fragile and the backdrop will lift you out of encroaching grim winter evenings Read Review
Several changes in personnel, notably the addition of Tessa Murray on vocals, have brought a new found depth and austerity omnipresent across all of Creatures Of An Hour's ten delightful tracks Read Review
The album flows from start to finish, from the old and through the new. It may feel a bit slow-burning at times for some but given the time, it all pieces together Read Review
Moments of murky brilliance are peppered throughout, artfully blending half-remembered music-box melodies from a forgotten age which have decayed and distorted over time Read Review
Delicate but far from twee, it opearates with the stealth of a panther in shadow Read Review
Uncomplicated, subtle but memorable songwriting that might well have been played and recorded in a bedroom studio on Holloway Road Read Review
This delicate, atmospheric music is an intriguing take on the dream pop canon; sparse and elegantly vexing, it's a fitting record to accompany the shortening days Read Review
This is a debut of atmospheric beauty that could be the start of something very special Read Review
A woozy concoction of hypnotic flickers and off-kilter squalls Read Review
Creatures of an Hour is top-heavy: the early-sequenced "Cuckoo" and "Endless Summer" are the record's incontestable highlights Read Review
Still Corners prove that they can progress beyond this ubiquitous predilection for visual evocation Read Review
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Still Corners: Creatures of an Hour
Pistol Annies Annie Up
If Annie Up doesn't quite break the country genre's familiar format, it's a hell of a lot of fun Slant Magazine
A pretty tasty serving of grits and sass Spin
A record that feels in every sense like a thoroughly integrated effort; the work of a group, not three individuals All Music
Their hearts are in every line and note Paste Magazine
The lyrics are carefully written and thoughtfully sung; the arrangements share similar qualities, with settings that suit the songs and brief solos that come in and echo the song’s emotions in a way that feels perfect Pop Matters
Country's new generation of strong female voices is on a roll in 2013 – and Pistol Annies remain at its forefront The Guardian
There may be better bands than Pistol Annies, but what band is more of a hoot? Rolling Stone
Wampire Curiosity
Their songs have a sharpness to them that makes them sparkle through the lysergic fug. Print edition only Q
Laura Marling Once I Was An Eagle
Once I was An Eagle is entirely Laura Marling's trip - beautiful, heartfelt, searching, sublime - and thrillingly open-ended. Print edition only Q
Var No One Dances Quite Like My Brothers
Something serene, tender even. Print edition only Uncut
Recalls Joni Mitchell's landmark Blue in the way she ruthlessly dissects her love life, hunting for emotional satisfaction. Print edition only Uncut
Sarcastic, ironic - and occasionally infuriating. Print edition only Mojo
It's the sweet sound of this unique talent evolving and it's utterly captivating. Print edition only Mojo
Yet another crowning achievement in this young woman's remarkable career to date The Digital Fix
Whether she is softly crooning over a plucked guitar or dabbling with organs and percussion for quietly cacophonous climaxes, Marling is never less than captivating The Irish Times
And the winner is ... no, not Daft Punk but a Californian garage punk
Since we've been around, that is. So, the highest-rated albums from the past four years or so
Frank Ocean Channel Orange
Anaïs Mitchell Hadestown
Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
PJ Harvey Let England Shake
My Bloody Valentine mbv
Ry Cooder Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down
Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d city
Arcade Fire The Suburbs
Tom Waits Bad As Me
Janelle Monáe The ArchAndroid