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8.0
68928
8.0 |
NME
While the band's long-standing interest in songs about monsters, vampires and zombies is absent, Fair's yelps of enthusiasm and lightning-strike guitar could wake the dead
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8.0
68973
8.0 |
All Music
The surfaces of Overjoyed might surprise a few longtime Half Japanese fans, but at heart this is still the passionate expression of a man who has embraced this life and its many curious possibilities
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7.5
68925
7.5 |
The Line Of Best Fit
Sees Half Japanese play it considerably safer than they used to, and there’s bundles of pop-rock glory to enjoy, but it’s still more than enough for loyal fans to breathe a sigh of relief
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7.5
68927
7.5 |
Earbuddy
I would recommend Overjoyed to anyone who is looking for another perspective to the recent resurgent punk movement
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7.0
68930
7.0 |
Loud And Quiet
This is what happiness sounds like for the messy and vanquished; bedraggled but authentically jubilant
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7.0
68960
7.0 |
PopMatters
For all the challenging experimentation of the Half Japanese catalog, Overjoyed‘s unapologetic, whole-hearted declarations of love, all seeming devoid of cynicism, make for some of the band’s most confrontational material yet
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6.8
68929
6.8 |
Pitchfork
The sound of the Fairs playing along with themselves, or at least the sweet, weird boys they used to be—not always with as much spark or chaos, but mashing up the fruits just as gleefully
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6.0
68926
6.0 |
The Skinny
A sense of optimistic romance dominate
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6.0
68972
6.0 |
Fact
By and large, Overjoyed works when it rocks – the snarling chugga-chugga of “Do It Nation”, the nursery-rhyme feedback shredding of “Overjoyed And Thankful” – and falls a little flat when it doesn’t
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6.0
70736
6.0 |
Q
Oddly enjoyable. Print edition only
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5.8
68967
5.8 |
Consequence Of Sound
Despite its goofy grin, squeaky clean production, and cheesy lyrics, Overjoyed is a good thing. If this is Fair aging into his dad rock phase, at least he’s a fun dad
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