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9.0
89517
9.0 |
Uncut
Swampy soul, Afrobeat and psychedelic funk are brought to the fore. Print edition only
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8.1
89645
8.1 |
Pitchfork
The singer-songwriter connects his gentle, acerbic soul to his most politically charged, well-stated, and funniest songs
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8.0
89696
8.0 |
Drowned In Sound
There’s a lot to focus on, and you’ve got to listen closely. Many of McCombs’s lyrics aim to deconstruct artifice and dig into the deepest, most subconscious wrongs of commonest people
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8.0
89584
8.0 |
All Music
For those who take it all in, the album engages both the intellectual and aural pleasure centers
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8.0
89606
8.0 |
Evening Standard
Like The War On Drugs a few years ago, McCombs sounds ready to make his commercial breakthrough
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8.0
89620
8.0 |
The Observer
This is one of those rare albums that reveals a little more with every play
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8.0
89623
8.0 |
God Is In The TV
Mangy Love, as a whole, is a kind of bridge between Jonathan Wilson and Kurt Vile, the delightfully crisp, clean guitar motifs aligning the slacker anthems of the latter with the prettier Laurel Canyon style melodies of the former
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8.0
89518
8.0 |
Q
These are dangerous and difficult times and McCombs is made for them. Print edition only
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8.0
89519
8.0 |
Mojo
Chilled out, soulful, and immediately catchy. Print edition only
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8.0
89536
8.0 |
Exclaim
Sounds like a collaborative affair from an artist who has the keen ability to keep his musical identity sounding completely idiosyncratic
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8.0
89538
8.0 |
NOW
Songwriting that somehow avoids feeling songwriterly, undercutting its own sophistication with crassness
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8.0
89513
8.0 |
NME
This is another classic McCombs album – get it and it’ll stay under your skin forever
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8.0
89516
8.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
A terrific, bizarre album made up of familiar parts rearranged into something new, unfamiliar, and offbeat
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8.0
89867
8.0 |
Rolling Stone
Shows a low-key master at work, and not in a bubble
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8.0
89909
8.0 |
PopMatters
McCombs is still one of the foremost storytellers in the contemporary indie scene—a scene that, today, needs more storytellers, period
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8.0
90155
8.0 |
No Ripcord
The creative zeal McCombs displays on Mangy Love, and his willingness to take some chances, even if low stakes, engages both the heart and the mind
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7.9
89810
7.9 |
Paste Magazine
Though Mangy Love is well constructed, the album at times has a slippery feel, and some of the songs can just slide by without making the impression it seems like they should
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7.5
89835
7.5 |
Beardfood
The lyrics aren’t always as focused, and they stray into the existential (‘I’m a Shoe’) and the plain weird (‘Medusa’s Outhouse’)
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7.5
89515
7.5 |
Consequence Of Sound
He works in a variety of styles here, yet keeps continuity through politically charged lyrics and imaginative storytelling
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7.0
89514
7.0 |
The Music
It's a fitting tone then that this album is akin to waking up from a period of rest
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7.0
89730
7.0 |
American Songwriter
This is shrewd, layered music that demands the songs be mulled over and scrutinized; even if that may not provide answers to questions McCombs poses
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6.0
89611
6.0 |
DIY
Turning to politics, Cass McCombs’ eighth full-length brings a soulful case for optimism in bleak circumstances
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6.0
89554
6.0 |
Spin
Only three of Mangy Love’s songs clock in under four-and-a-half minutes, and once they bog down, they can never quite escape their rut
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6.0
89578
6.0 |
The Guardian
An alt-rocker's bid for the AOR mainstream
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