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10.0
87147
10.0 |
The Arts Desk
There’s plenty of space for her voice to breathe, but it’s decorated with loops, strange and mesmerisingly irregular beats, and modest applications of distortion and noise to create absorbing and original textures
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9.0
87411
9.0 |
Paste Magazine
Don’t call it folktronica. Call it pop, with all the inclusiveness the word implies, and stay tuned
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8.5
87230
8.5 |
Under The Radar
Experimental, unique, and brave; Beth Orton has just released her finest record
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8.0
87233
8.0 |
Loud And Quiet
Very much the sound of Beth Orton being resurrected
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8.0
87178
8.0 |
Uncut
Subtly crushing meditation on fast-disappearing years, stitched together from loops and one-fingered keyboard refrains. Print edition only
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8.0
87201
8.0 |
musicOMH
Comfortably among the best things she’s done
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8.0
87154
8.0 |
Clash
It is the very definition of a grower, simply because there are so many little things going on in stark contrast to her elegantly sparse previous release
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8.0
87247
8.0 |
The Guardian
Such a radical redesign should be imposing, yet Orton’s vocals – plaintive and soulful as ever – still take centre stage
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8.0
87261
8.0 |
God Is In The TV
It’s an electronic pop album that doesn’t hold any major surprises. But it’s far from pedestrian – rather, it feels like a return to form
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8.0
87265
8.0 |
Exclaim
Kidsticks is akin to visiting a mellow, experimental dance club with a time-traveling ethereal poet; kinda punk rock, idiosyncratic and organic even as it's awash in keyboards
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8.0
87323
8.0 |
The Observer
Despite its sunny origins, there’s a shard of ice speared through Kidsticks, a frost that burns fierce as fire
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8.0
87146
8.0 |
The Skinny
This is an album swimming with inventiveness, quality and variety: it’s good to have her back
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8.0
88580
8.0 |
PopMatters
There is no road less traveled for Beth Orton; each is new, making every trip as unique and fruitful as its predecessors and eventual successors
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7.6
87366
7.6 |
Pitchfork
Anxious, playful, and sounds little like anything the singer/songwriter has done before
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7.5
87372
7.5 |
The Line Of Best Fit
Even during the album’s weightier, more emotional moments, the crisp production and candid subject matter injects Kidsticks with a contemporary effervescence
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7.0
87384
7.0 |
Spectrum Culture
Beth Orton’s voice is as divine as the northern lights
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7.0
87362
7.0 |
Drowned In Sound
If this is the shape of things to come for her, then we could be in for quite a treat. If only more musicians would be brave enough to truly re-invent themselves
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7.0
87655
7.0 |
Earbuddy
Orton sounds comfortable and inspired; I won’t be surprised to hear her drawing from similar wells in her next album
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6.0
87451
6.0 |
Beardfood
A 45 year old who sounds like she’s 18, exploring the power of words and sound with baby steps
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6.0
87622
6.0 |
Slant Magazine
Most of the songs on the album are quick and fun, with bright hooks and buoyant keyboards
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6.0
87304
6.0 |
Evening Standard
Revisiting her past is a smart way of moving forward
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6.0
87308
6.0 |
The FT
Songs coast by unobtrusively, smoothly textured and sung, leaving little trace of themselves
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6.0
87176
6.0 |
Mojo
Keying into the pioneering ‘folktronica’ of her mid-90s recordings. Print edition only
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6.0
87177
6.0 |
Q
More adventurous, electro-based, Fuck Buttons-produced approach. Print edition only
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6.0
87148
6.0 |
The Music
Almost every song is cut a good minute or two short and Kidsticks is over just as it's getting started
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6.0
87240
6.0 |
NOW
Kidsticks's risk-taking, while not always on point, proves Orton capable of reinvention. She's still a voice worth listening to
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