-
9.0
103828
9.0 |
Loud And Quiet
While ‘Hippo Lite’ sounds fresh and exhilarating, it could also be an undiscovered obscurity from a bygone era
Read Review
-
8.0
103829
8.0 |
Uncut
Feels like Le Bon and Presley's own little musical microclimate. You don't have to know exactly what they're on about to recognise that it's something special. Print edition only
-
8.0
103830
8.0 |
Q
Hippo Lite is brilliantly abrasive, any prettier blips overwhelmed by Real Outside's uncanny whirl or the ESP crackle of Corner shops. Print edition only
-
8.0
103824
8.0 |
The Quietus
The whole lot is threaded together by recurrent John Cale strings and a smattering of found sounds: from creaking door through chattering bird, serenading frog and burbling human baby
Read Review
-
8.0
103826
8.0 |
God Is In The TV
It’s fair to say that DRINKS are not for the faint-hearted. If you’re someone who needs music to ‘click’ the first, or even second, time you hear it, then Hippo Lite is perhaps not for you
Read Review
-
8.0
103827
8.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
The pair have taught us the valuable lesson that weirdness needn’t be conjured under pretense from far out places while the mundanity of real life can prove far more potent
Read Review
-
8.0
103854
8.0 |
The Guardian
It is a fairly bizarre album, but an absorbing and clever one that gets stranger as it goes on
Read Review
-
8.0
103877
8.0 |
DIY
Something new on every listen
Read Review
-
8.0
103878
8.0 |
The FT
What initially appears whimsical and slight becomes more charming with each spin
Read Review
-
8.0
103888
8.0 |
Pitchfork
Cate Le Bon and Tim Presley sound blissfully removed on their second album as a duo, in a quizzical world of their own creation
Read Review
-
8.0
103974
8.0 |
Mojo
Suffused with as much sadness as madness. Print edition only
-
8.0
104611
8.0 |
Tiny Mix Tapes
What remains most alluring about this experiment’s broken logic is the sense that you’re furtively occupying someone else’s dream
Read Review
-
7.8
103969
7.8 |
Earbuddy
As strange and enjoyable as anything else in these two’s discography
Read Review
-
7.0
103871
7.0 |
All Music
Like Hermits on Holiday, it's first-rate experimental rock made by two musicians with interesting, complicated ideas and the skills to bring them to life
Read Review
-
7.0
103825
7.0 |
Under The Radar
Hippo Lite is as refreshing as one can expect from Cate Le Bon and Tim Presley but this time around, the drinks this pair are serving have a bit more bite
Read Review
-
7.0
104016
7.0 |
Drowned In Sound
The second album from Cate Le Bon and Tim Presley carries the same sense of freedom as their first outing, this time a bit softer and more song-shaped than their debut’s meanderings
Read Review
-
7.0
104018
7.0 |
No Ripcord
The results border on “rough cut,” as if five or six of the album’s twelve tracks were fully developed and meant as anchors for Hippo Lite’s more spontaneous and quirky output
Read Review
-
6.0
103832
6.0 |
NME
It sounds like the perfect zen trip away, and the experience rubs off on this neatly self-contained record, made without any interference or anxious reminder of deadlines
Read Review
-
5.9
103859
5.9 |
Paste Magazine
Appreciating these songs may take time, attention and acceptance, but if Hippo Lite has already depleted your supply of these qualities, that’s understandable
Read Review
-
4.0
103864
4.0 |
The 405
Poor by most standards, not just for seasoned pros like Le Bon and Presley
Read Review
-
4.0
103879
4.0 |
The Observer
While Hippo Lite does have its moments, well before the end you find yourself reflecting that Young Marble Giants, Rosa Yemen and the Raincoats did this far better almost 40 years ago
Read Review
-
3.0
103898
3.0 |
Exclaim
Most of the tracks unfortunately tread into self-indulgent wank territory, perhaps too clever by a half
Read Review
-