Albums to watch

Blank Project

Neneh Cherry

Blank Project

Fourth studio album and first solo release for 18 years from the Swedish-born hip hop artist produced by Four Tet

ADM rating[?]

8.0

Label
Smalltown Supersound
UK Release date
24/02/2014
US Release date
25/02/2014
  1. 10.0 |   The Skinny

    Nothing short of a triumph
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  2. 10.0 |   musicOMH

    It’s rare that you get an album by an established artist that genuinely shocks and irrevocably repositions them. Blank Project is one of those albums. This is a hugely significant return
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  3. 10.0 |   Independent on Sunday

    The songs are sparky and Cherry is in excellent voice as she raps, sings and swings against the sparse, drum and bass-style backing
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  4. 9.1 |   A.V. Club

    Neneh Cherry has been making music for 25 years now, but Blank Project proves that she’s absolutely free of any signs of creative stagnation
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  5. 9.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    It really is a stunning record, a completely unexpected treat and an album of the year contender, no doubt
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  6. 9.0 |   The Music

    Cherry defies expectation but coming at us from unexpected tangents she provides satisfying listening
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  7. 9.0 |   All Music

    From front to back, Blank Project is riveting uneasy listening
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  8. 8.7 |   The Quietus

    Moreover, she has paid us the compliment of refraining from obfuscating or filtering that content in the way that so many artists do by default, and via fear. And it sounds incredible. We're very lucky
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  9. 8.6 |   Sputnik Music (staff)

    The album captures the artist in scintillating form with its potent mesh-up of gutsy inventiveness and great maturity
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  10. 8.0 |   Spin

    It's a major work, one that confirms that she's only marginal in the sense that she's vibrating on her own wavelength, way out at the edge of the spectrum
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  11. 8.0 |   PopMatters

    Blank Project is Cherry’s finest album, and proves she is an artist still on an upward trajectory
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  12. 8.0 |   The Arts Desk

    High on rhythms and percussion and low on conventional melodies, it isn’t easy listening but is frequently bold and challenging
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  13. 8.0 |   The Observer

    There's a good deal to enjoy here
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  14. 8.0 |   The List

    Channels beat poetry, avant-electronica and free jazz via melodic pop (and vice versa), and which variously utilises space as an instrument, a refuge, a weapon
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  15. 8.0 |   The 405

    It's easy to just describe this album as minimalist, but there is a great depth in the lyrics as well as in the way the music has been constructed
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  16. 8.0 |   NME

    Almost every instrumental melodic element is electronically and experimentally processed, but the drums and Cherry's richly expressive voice, are cleanly, carefully recorded, and then left well alone. It's a winning strategy
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  17. 8.0 |   Mojo

    Lean, hungry and impeccably intense record. Print edition only

  18. 8.0 |   Q

    Four Tet gives an unpredictable pop star a brand new stance. Print edition only

  19. 8.0 |   The Guardian

    There are moments where the sonic and emotional weight of Blank Project feels a little crushing... But that's a minor quibble about a bold and adventurous album
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  20. 8.0 |   The Irish Times

    An album full of rich, intense, adventurous grandeur
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  21. 8.0 |   DIY

    ‘Blank Project’ skews soul into a futuristic chasm of industrial noise and convention-dodging electronica
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  22. 8.0 |   Evening Standard

    Blank Project is less a comeback, more a wholesale, wholly successful re-invention
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  23. 7.7 |   Pitchfork

    It’s a rare pleasure to see a musician who was under-appreciated during her heyday have a delayed influence a later generation of artists while she’s still in good working condition
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  24. 7.5 |   Under The Radar

    For the most part Blank Project shares the same timeless quality as her best work and sees a mature and engaging return for one of pop's true originals
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  25. 7.5 |   Consequence Of Sound

    She’s engrossingly cathartic, whether she’s trembling in the aural wonderland of “Naked” or breathily cooing alongside fellow Swede Robyn on “Out of the Black”
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  26. 7.0 |   Fact

    It’s a very puzzling record, but the last thing you should do is try and puzzle it out: just go with it and you’ll find its strange charms working much more quickly than you might have thought at first
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  27. 7.0 |   Slant Magazine

    An album that frequently feels stripped of any foundation, or even its musical fundamentals. Most songs are unfettered, with demo-quality mixes, a bare minimum of instrumentation, and over-exposed live drumming
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  28. 7.0 |   Rolling Stone

    It's music that beats its own path, brilliantly
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  29. 6.0 |   The Independent

    A contemporary avant-electro work on which her vocals occupy a sparse space of hand percussion, drums and electronic noise
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  30. 6.0 |   The FT

    A purple prose-laden paean to New York makes for a ropy start but things pick up when the beats come into focus
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  31. 6.0 |   Uncut

    A brave, atmospheric long-player. Print edition only

  32. 6.0 |   No Ripcord

    This is a very original, fruitful record
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Neneh Cherry: Blank Project

  • Download full album for just £5.49
  • 1. Across The Water £0.89
  • 2. Blank Project £0.89
  • 3. Naked £0.89
  • 4. Spit Three Times £0.89
  • 5. Weightless £0.89
  • 6. Cynical £0.89
  • 7. 422 £0.89
  • 8. Out Of The Black £0.89
  • 9. Dossier £0.89
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