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10.0
86527
10.0 |
The Guardian
The most profound protest record in decades
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10.0
86582
10.0 |
Evening Standard
The tremulous waterfall voice remains, but siren-like beats from Hudson Mohawke and crackling electronics from Oneohtrix Point Never cast her into a more ethereal realm
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10.0
86726
10.0 |
NOW
Despite the title, there is something reassuring about Hopelessness - like being in a womb and never wanting to leave. The world outside is too insane
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9.1
86503
9.1 |
Consequence Of Sound
Looks aggressively outward, disgusted global criticisms paired not with haunted piano chords but grimy electronics. Yet still, at the core, stands that iconic voice
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9.0
86504
9.0 |
Exclaim
Her first album under her new name, and with that comes a new clarity and purpose to her songwriting, an ownership and authority over her artistic voice that we've not yet seen before
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9.0
86505
9.0 |
Loud And Quiet
A collection that demands and deserves to be heard
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9.0
86499
9.0 |
Pitchfork
As Anohni sings of our current apocalypse, her voice and these beats have some semblance of utopia in them. It is music about death and destruction that sounds deep-down infatuated by the forces that keep us alive
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9.0
86500
9.0 |
Spin
Hopelessness is not about throwing up one’s hands in surrender. It’s actually the opposite of that. It is a kind of protracted scream that begs the listener to stop, look, and really listen
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9.0
86551
9.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
Hopelessness essentially represents the fight to find your own unique place in a world that has grown ugly, and a sincere desire for us all to wake up and take action to ensure it doesn’t get any uglier than it already is
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9.0
86559
9.0 |
Crack
The production – as you’d expect – is consistently outstanding, providing a platform for Anohni that alternates between blunt, sinister rhythms and gentle, ghostly melodies
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9.0
86647
9.0 |
Beardfood
A gloomy, devastating, revolutionary record
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8.5
86591
8.5 |
The Quietus
The music on Hopelessness is impeccably arranged and produced, and there is a sense of genuine care in how the album has been sequenced
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8.5
86539
8.5 |
Spectrum Culture
Nearly all political albums sound like the petulant rants of their makers as told over beers to friends; HOPELESSNESS is the rare album to deliberately call attention to that fact, and how impotent it makes both listener and creator feel
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8.3
86545
8.3 |
Pretty Much Amazing
Hopelessness ultimately betrays its title, and its banner-waving, because the voice at its center is fundamentally the opposite of defeated. The album may falter when it gazes into the near-distance. Otherwise, it soars
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8.3
86529
8.3 |
A.V. Club
With a voice that makes her sound perpetually stranded on a desert island, Anohni is sending an SOS to—and for—the world. Regardless of how many people hear it, at least she can say she tried
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8.0
86550
8.0 |
Tiny Mix Tapes
The sound certainly makes a powerful first impression, but it loses some of its distinctiveness with repeated listens; fortunately, the same cannot be said of THAT VOICE
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8.0
86498
8.0 |
No Ripcord
While her work with Antony has mostly embraced a spiritual softness, her newfound defiance with her new moniker Anohni is just as vulnerable, except that she’s now communicating those bare emotions with a cold and uncompromising eye
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8.0
86501
8.0 |
State
Brave, bare, and often brilliant
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8.0
86506
8.0 |
Uncut
Generous of spirit and cutting-edge of sound this is a statement of our times, and one that will not be easy to dismiss
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8.0
86507
8.0 |
Q
Shows the singer imbued with a new spirit, openness and clarity - one that’s anything but hopeless. Print edition only
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8.0
86508
8.0 |
Mojo
Musically, Hopelessness sees Anohni take a harder radical line. Print edition only
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8.0
86592
8.0 |
The Observer
Hopelessness finally busts Anohni’s oceanic pipes out of the somewhat tight corner in which they have been cloistered since her 2005 Mercury win with I Am a Bird Now, and lets them rip over crunching beats, the kind that inhabit the mainstream
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8.0
86634
8.0 |
NME
The most vital album of recent times
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8.0
86525
8.0 |
The Independent
As befits a protest album, Anohni ditches the rarefied chamber arrangements of previous releases for a more modern, populist EDM approach, furnished by producers Oneohtrix Point Never and Hudson Mohawke
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8.0
86579
8.0 |
The FT
Anohni’s voice remains as striking as ever, quavering yet full-bodied, an instrument of feeling amid the synthetic musical textures
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8.0
86791
8.0 |
FasterLouder
Hopelessness is a response to the raging debate around diversity; it’s a shot across the bow to steadfast conservatives and ambivalent progressives alike. Anohni doesn’t just seek visibility – she demands it
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8.0
87764
8.0 |
PopMatters
Anohni didn't reinvent the wheel on her new album, but she did get it spinning in another direction
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7.0
86869
7.0 |
Rolling Stone
It's difficult to hear without facing one's own privilege and culpability, equally difficult to turn away from, and impossible to forget
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7.0
86884
7.0 |
Gig Soup
Contains some excellent moments, especially both of its lead singles, the tenderly sung ‘Drone Bomb Me’ exploring extra-judicial killings, and the angry climate anthem ‘4 Degrees’
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7.0
86497
7.0 |
musicOMH
ANOHNI has described the album as “an electronic record with some sharp teeth,” and it most certainly is
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6.0
86531
6.0 |
All Music
Anohni's targets deserve all the fury she unleashes upon them, but that doesn't make this any easier to engage with, even if you agree with what Anohni has to say
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6.0
86534
6.0 |
DIY
Tackling politics in music is like approaching a trap door, but ANOHNI brings a different skill
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6.0
86523
6.0 |
The Irish Times
Songs such as Violent Men and the tuneless Obama seem a waste of Anohni’s unique voice – but as musical statements go, this is undoubtedly a brave one
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5.8
87780
5.8 |
Resident Advisor
Political pop can be like this without compromising its message, but most of Hopelessness has no interest in pliability. It regards its audience as either fervent believers in Anohni's cause or a pop mass in need of blunt polemic.
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5.5
86502
5.5 |
Under The Radar
The problem is that the entirety of HOPELESSNESS isn't convincing as a collective vision
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