Albums to watch

Spoils

Alasdair Roberts

Spoils

Alt country and traditional jigs and reels from the Scottish folk singer-songwriter and former leader of cult band Appendix Out

ADM rating[?]

6.9

Label
Drag City
UK Release date
27/04/2009
  1. 8.5 |   The Quietus

    One has to look as far back as Nic Jones and his 1980 album Penguin Eggs to find work that matches Roberts' combination of reverence for tradition and originality of interpretation
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  2. 8.0 |   musicOMH

    One of our primary songwriters and deserves to be heard by anyone with an interest in the future of music.
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  3. 8.0 |   The Sunday Times

    Roberts’s fifth solo album is his best; purists’ anxieties about authenticity are rendered irrelevant simply by its being brilliant.
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  4. 8.0 |   Pitchfork

    Alasdair Roberts has made the best album of his 14-year career. And while it's very smart, you might not even know that it's as smart as it is until after you've heard it a dozen times. That it's so strong considering it's a weirdo folk-rock record with lyrics like ""I was bilious and saturnine/ As I walked from shrine to wayside shrine"" is almost a miracle
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  5. 7.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    Overall, this is one to file alongside Joanna Newsom, not just for strangeness, but for the ambition to create worlds.
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  6. 7.0 |   NME

    It’s refreshing to hear a Brit ploughing up our own verdant folk history.
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  7. 7.0 |   The Observer

    His composition deftly intertwines ancient and modern, with a series of rousing reels uniting the eight lengthy tracks.
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  8. 4.0 |   PopMatters

    His success and reputation would certainly benefit either from repositioning himself in more of a traditional context or working in collaboration with other artists who can refurbish the traditional elements of his music
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