Best of 2018:Jon Hopkins "Singularity" (2018)

Singularity

release date: May 4, 2018

format: digital (9 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,94]

producer: Jon Hopkins

label: Domino - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Singularity" (4,5 / 5) (official shorter video) - 2. "Emerald Rush" - 3. "Neon Pattern Drum" - 4. "Everything Connected" (4 / 5) - 6. "C O S M" - 8. "Luminous Beings"

[ full album ]

5th studio album by Jon Hopkins follows five years after Immunity (Jun. 2013). Five years is quite a long time in the music business, and it hasn't been time wasted for Hopkins, who has been a much sought for producer, co-writer, and composer on various releases. He has worked for Coldplay and toured with the band, and he has made the soundtrack album How I Live Now for the drama film by Kevin Mcdonald.

The album is a different creature than the acclaimed predecessor, and it's actually impressive how varied the album is, when it's still an extremenly coherent whole. Immunity also excelled with progressive compositions and patterns that keep evolving but that's something you dsicover is taken much further here. Stylewise, it's still in the same ballgame where tech house meets downtempo and where the experimental ingredient is ever-present. All that remains, but on top of that all compositions have that ambient quality that proppels you on a forward trip into unknown territory of deep space. Listening to this, have me thinking that it's liekly the closest you can get to have an experience that equels that of tripping from Crystal Meth without actually having taken a drug. Of course you don't hallucinate, you still consciously know where you are but may have an impression of sinking into some kind of transmission and feel an out-of-body-experience. Anyway, I get it.

Singularity is Hopkin's first and only album to top the UK Dance charts and it's also his best charting album on the general albums chart list peaking at number #9, which I fully understand. His 2013 album rightfully provided him international fame and this newest album only underlines his status as one of Britain's most fascinating composers of electronic music. This is simply Hopkins' best album to date!

Highly recommended.

[ 👍Pitchfork 8,3 / 10, Mojo, Q Magazine 4 / 5, Uncut 3,5 / 5, NME 5 / 5, 👎The Guardian 2 / 5 stars ]

[ Jon Hopkins on bandcamp ]

2018 Favourite releases: 1. Jon Hopkins Singularity - 2. The Fratellis In Your Own Sweet Time - 3. Robyn Honey

Moby "Everything Was Beautiful, and Nothing Hurt" (2018)

Everything Was Beautiful, and Nothing Hurt
release date: Mar. 2, 2018
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,56]
producer: Moby
label: Little Idiot - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Mere Anarchy" - 3. "Like a Motherless Child" - 4. "The Last of Goodbyes" - 5. "The Ceremony of Innocence" - 7. "Welcome to Hard Times" - 9. "Falling Rain and Light"

15th studio album by Moby [aka Richard Melville Hall] released on his own label and via Mute Records following the second release credited Moby & The Void Pacific Choir, More Fast Songs About the Apocalypse from 2017.
Stylistically, this is a return to his 'electronic' releases - as contrary to the 'dance punk' and 'synth punk' of releases with The Void Pacific Choir - and Moby has been around the 'electronic' scene for more than three decades exploring and incorporating genres and styles to satisfy himself more than his fans. That's always a good staring point, but as with someone like Neil Young it takes the artist off on many excursions - sometimes losing, sometimes gaining popularity, but I really like the attitude. With Moby I have felt a certain disappointment at times but this is no such instance. He reworks some familiar bits but mainly maintains a distinct sound, and it's really a nice journey. I like his touch on 'trip hop' combined with what sounds almost 'industrial' with an underlying bittersweet tone like one will find on his masterpiece Play from 1999, although, there's no real revisit to that, as it's more like a big combo of his many influences.
[ allmusic.com, Q Magazine, The Daily Telegraph 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Trentemøller "Into the Great Wide Yonder" (2010)

Into the Great Wide Yonder

release date: May 31, 2010

format: digital (10 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,54]

producer: Anders Trentemøller

label: In My Room - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "The Mash and the Fury" - 2. "Sycamore Feeling" (feat. Marie Fisker) - 3. "Past the Beginning of the End" - 4. "Shades of Marble" - 6. "Häxan" - 8. "Silver Surfer, Ghost Rider Go!!!" - 10. "Tide" (feat. Solveig Sandnes)

2nd full-length studio album by Trentemøller follows some 3½ years after The Last Resort (Oct. 2006) is his first album to be released on his new-founded label, In My Room. More recently he released the DJ mixes Harbour Boat Trips 01 in 2009 as well as a long list of remixes - for which he is renowned.

Into the Great Wide Yonder marks a change of style - although his trademark has continuously been not to conform and musically always be on the move, in search of new sounds and styles to incorporate. This time he has embraced and paired two opposites: on one side and half of the tracks, more traditional song structures with vocals, verse and chorus, and on the other side experimental and instrumental downtempo techno.

It's not as much the introduction of vocal arrangements that makes this a step forward, and in my ears: an improvement. It's more so his ability to make it one whole, where both musical ends are held together in a tight and original mix. The progressive parts and the rhythm patterns glues it all together. Also, he collaborate with singer / songwriters like Marie Fisker, Solveig Sandnes, Nana Øland Fabricious (aka Oh Land), and Mikael Simpson, Josephine Philip and Fyfe Dangerfield (of Guillemots) who add lyrics (and vocals) and compositions to his arrangements.

It's not an immediate favourite of mine, but I think this is his so far most coherent album.

[ bandcamp ]

[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

Jon Hopkins "Insides" (2009)

Insides

release date: May 3, 2009

format: digital (10 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,08]

producer: Jon Hopkins

label: Domino - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 2. "Vessel" - 3. "Insides" - 4. "Wire" - 5. "Colour Eye" - 9. "A Drifting Up"

3rd studio album by Jon Hopkins following five years after Contact Note (Aug. 2004) is his first album after signing with Domino Recording Co.

The album also includes the track "Light Through the Veins", which had been issued on the Coldplay album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (Jun. 2008). Hopkins also co-produced the Coldplay song "Life in Technicolor" and from hereon he was an often used co-producer and / or mixer used by the band, who also began touring with Hopkins. Before meeting with Coldplay, Hopkins had made some collaboration works with Brian Eno, who had come heard Contact Note.

Insides is mostly experimental electronica in the styles of IDM, micro and ambient downtempo, and if you happen to be familiar with his acclaimed Immunity from 2013, then this comes out as more of experimental drafts that paved a way to his more original sound later on. The album doesn't appear the same coherent whole you'll find his later albums do. It's more like single tracks pointing in many directions. Some compositions have a synthpop quality that makes you understand the idea of collaborating with Coldplay much more sensible, and others are much more in a classic electronic / Brian Eno territory.

Insides is mostly interesting as Hopkin's formative journey toward more acclaimed works and mostly fails on several parameters, which isn't the same as all bad.

Röyksopp "Melody A.M." (2001)

Melody A.M. [debut]
release date: Oct. 2001
format: 2 cd (LTD.)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,42]
producer: Röyksopp
label: Wall of Sound - nationality: Norway

Track highlights: 1. "So Easy" - 2. "Eple" - 4. "In Space" - 5. "Poor Leno" - 8. "Remind Me"

Studio album debut by Norwegian duo Röyksopp consisting of Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland is electronic downbeat with a certain ambient touch. It bears traces from a big mix of various influences where one will find reverberations from 1960s pop / rock and 1980s synthpop all fusioned with techno and dance pop of the 90s. Artists like Kraftwerk, Jean-Michel Jarre, Art of Noise, Aphex Twin, AIR, Fatboy Slim and Moby sound like obvious inspirational sources.
A few of the ten tracks have a more electropop-founded style, which have brought them wider recognition with various remixes, and this is not all bad. The album went straight to #1 on the national albums chart list, and the single "Eple" reached number #16 in the UK. What seems more vital to the band's popularity is the fact that many of the songs from the album have ended up in various commercial outings - e.g. computer and video games as well as television adds. The album is also enlisted in "1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die."
It's an interesting albeit somewhat big scoped soundscape and a debut pointing in truly many directions. The track "Eple" was used as background or signature music in a vast number of tv productions of the early 2000s.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, NME, Blender, Q Magazine, The Guardian 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

Tracey Thorn "Out of the Woods" (2007)

Out of the Woods
release date: Mar. 5, 2007
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,54]
producer: Ewan Pearson
label: Virgin Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Here It Comes Again" - 2. "A-Z" - 3. "It's All True" - 5. "Hands Up to the Ceiling" - 9. "Grand Canyon" - 10. "By Piccadilly Station I Sat Down and Wept" - 11. "Raise the Roof"

2nd solo album by Tracey Thorn released after Everything but the Girl has been put on a longtime halt. Ewan Pearson has produced 6 of 11 tracks, Tom Gandey two songs, and Charles Webster, Martin Wheeler and Alex Santos are all credited for producing one track each. It's been more than 7 years since her last album, Temperamental from 1999 with future husband Ben Watt [Thorn and Watt were married in 2008]. In the meantime Thorn has given birth to and helped raising three children, and this is the long-awaited comeback.
Musically, Thorn combines alt. dance and downtempo associated with EBTG on their last three albums of the late 90s with a softer tone of typical synthpop sound with traces of chamber pop. The album is far from her solo debut, A Distant Shore from 1982, and it would have been a surprising attempt to follow that in style. Out of the Woods is of course a delicate sonic experience, and I guess the biggest single characteristic about the album is its diversity. Some songs are strong synthpop compositions, others are club-like downtempo songs that tastes of Temperamental (1999) and Walking Wounded (1996) and then others have a distinct sophisti-pop quality that takes us further back down the road with Everything but the Girl. On top of it all, Thorn binds it all together with her melancholic alto vocal, which hasn't dated one bit. Cleverly, she narrates about familiar tales that circle around love and relationships. In fact, the album just takes off as if she hadn't been out - or: in the woods.
The album is a pleasant return from one of England's finest voices of popular music and a recommended album.
[ allmusic.com, The Guardian 4 / 5 stars ]

Everything but the Girl "Temperamental" (1999)

2015 Deluxe Edition

Temperamental
release date: Sep. 28, 1999
format: 2 cd (2015 remaster - Deluxe Edition)
[album rate: 4,5 / 5] [4,28]
producer: Ben Watt
label: Edsel Records - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: Disc 1, 1. "Five Fathoms" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "Low Tide of the Night" - 3. "Blame" (5 / 5) - 4. "Hatfield 1980" (4,5 / 5) - 5. "Temperamental" - 6. "Compression" (4,5 / 5) - 7. "Downhill Racer" - 8. "Lullaby of Clubland" - 9. "No Difference" - 10. "The Future of the Future (Stay Gold)" - *11. "Firewall" - *12. "Come In (unfinished album track)" - *13. "Temperamental (live at The Forum, London, 1999)"

Disc 2, "Remixes": 1. "Five Fathoms (Club 69 Future Club mix)" - 2. "Five Fathoms (Kevin Yost Enlightenment mix)" - 3. "Temperamental (Pull Timewarp mix) - 4. "Temperamental (Hex Hector and Mac Quayle Reverse Drum dub)" - 5. "Temperamental (Wamdue Project remix)" - 6. "Blame (Fabio remix)" - 7. "Blame (J Majik VIP remix)" - 8. "Downhill Racer (Kenny Dope remix)" - 9. "Lullaby of Clubland (Markus Schulz Tribal Journey)" - 10. "Lullaby of Clubland (Matty Heilbronn II Deep Club mix)"
*Bonus tracks

10th studio album by Everything but the Girl originally released on Virgin Records. The album is the so far final studio album by the twenty-year old duo. On a superficial level it's odd to put a highly successful project to a halt. The huge success from the mid 90s up until this point has much to do with their decision to step into the electronic genre. Todd Terry's remix of "Missing" (1994) became their biggest hit. The house element from that could easily be found on the '96 follow-up album Walking Wounded where it's blended nicely with trip hop, which proved to be another fine statement and evolvement of their music.
Temperamental is an even more electronic-founded album than its two predecessors without much of the trip hop sound from Walking Wounded but it introduces a great synthesis of house, downtempo and the duo's trademarks of jazz pop elements from sophisti-pop and lounge. On top of a strong unique sound the album is like one long meditative take.

The reception of the album was very positive. The duo faced fine reviews and had become a huge name in electronic club-land. Watt intensified his work as producer and DJ, but the couple apparently felt trapped in the stardom that followed Temperamental and only wanted to lead a more private life. In 1998 Tracey Thorn gave birth to twin daughters, and a son followed in 2001, which possibly was decisive changes in their private life and also brought an end to this great duo. Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn were married in 2008, and they're still both engaged in music, although, there are no signs of a continued close musical partnership as Everything but the Girl, alas.

To me, this is one of the very best by the duo, and also one of the absolute best of the year.
Highly recommended.

About the remaster:
The Deluxe 2xCD Edition remaster booklet is a fine updated package. Not as much for being a remaster as I find it a bit difficult to hear the big differences, but for adding another 3 tracks to an already brilliant album, and on top of that it gives you an additional 10 remixes that are all very unique despite originating from only 5 different songs.
The album is simply one of the best by the duo continuing in the electronic steps laid out on Amplified Heart and followed on Walking Wounded.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

1999 Favourite releases: 1. The Chemical Brothers Surrender - 2. Underworld Beaucoup Fish - 3. Everything but the Girl Temperamental

back cover

Moby "Innocents" (2013)

Innocents
release date: Oct. 1, 2013
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,24]
producer: Moby, Mark 'Spike' Stent
label: Mute Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Everything That Rises" - 2. "A Case for Shame (feat. Cold Specks)" - 3. "Almost Home (feat. Damien Jurado)" - 6. "The Last Day (feat. Skylar Grey)" - 9. "Saints" - 10. "Tell Me (feat. Cold Specks)" (Live session) - 12. "The Dogs"

11th studio album release by electronic artist Moby.
It's not really Play standard nor one of his big misses.
Already (as of Dec. 2013), I find this one of his better releases. Moby has made a few truly great albums, a few downright boring ones, and then some mediocre albums, but he has always investigated new material and occasionally he comes out with a very good album, and I think, without being great this is one of his more successful albums.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, Mojo, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

Everything but the Girl "Walking Wounded" (1996)

Walking Wounded
release date: May 28, 1996
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,86]
producer: Ben Watt
label: Virgin Records - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: 1. "Before Today" (4 / 5) - 2. "Wrong" - 3. "Single" - 4. "The Heart Remains a Child" - 5. "Walking Wounded" (4 / 5) - 6. "Flipside" - 7. "Big Deal" - 8. "Mirrorball" - 9. "Good Cop Bad Cop" - 10. "Wrong (Todd Terry Remix)" - 11. "Walking Wounded (Omni Trio Remix)"

9th studio album by Everything but the Girl. Despite being released two years since the duo's last album, it's a fine continued style from Amplified Heart (1994). That album was mostly sophisti-pop but the bonus track "Missing (Todd Terry Club Mix)", and it's house- and drum and bass-version of the album track, gave them their international breakthrough. Here, Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt have taken a move away from their jazz pop and sophisti-pop influences and based the music on the house-style that brought them fame and combined that with downtempo and elements from trip hop. As with reissues of the '94 album, this has one of the original tracks remixed by Todd Terry: "Wrong (Todd Terry Remix)".
The first two and the title track are the best songs here, but the remainders never bore. I don't find it on the same top-level as their great '94 album, but it's more than just fine, and it proves how this capable duo have found their shelf combining their unique melancholic sophisti-pop with styles taken from electronic music as they now seem to be making the best music of their career.
The album is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Moby "18" (2002)

18
release date: May 13, 2002
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]
producer: Moby
label: Mute Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "We Are All Made of Stars" - 2. "In This World" - 11. "Sunday (The Day Before My Birthday)" - 15. "Harbour" (feat. Sinéad O'Connor) - 17. "The Rafters"

6th studio album by Moby follows closely in the footsteps of his international break-through album Play from 1999 incorporating many samples. It contains 18 tracks and has a total running time above 71 mins. and it turns out a bit more experimental compared to his great '99 album, as it isn't composed in the same danceable house-style but reflects a bolder ambient and downtempo electronic release.
Possibly, aided by the success of the predecessor, 18 became an immediate world-wide top-selling album reaching number #4 on the Billboard 200 in the US - topping the Dance / Electronic list there, and also topping albums chart lists in several countries including Australia, France, Germany and the UK making it his so far best-selling album.
For a long time, I found it a bit of a disappointing and mediocre affair, possibly handing it 2,5 / 5, but over the years I have come to regard it as much better than that. It doesn't contain strong singles like "Porcelain" from the '99 album, but it's nicely held together and has an underlying melancholic tone, which makes it quite gripping once you get to the core of the album. In fact, it's a much more coherent collection of songs than the big mish-mash of styles and almost two-sided affair from start to finish that you find on the acclaimed Play.
A grower of an album, mind you.
[ allmusic.com, Blender, Q Magazine 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Moby "Everything Is Wrong" (1995)

Everything Is Wrong
release date: Mar. 13, 1995
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,52]
producer: Moby
label: Elektra / Mute - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Hymn" - 2. "Feeling So Real" - 3. "All That I Need Is to Be Loved" - 5. "Everytime You Touch Me" - 6. "Bring Back My Happiness" - 13. "When It's Cold I'd Like to Die"

3rd studio album release by Moby - or actually, it's only his second intended album release, as his former label Instinct Records in the aftermath of his successful debut album decided to release the album Ambient in August '93 when Moby was in the process of signing a record deal with British independent label, Mute Records - an album of quite different material, as indicated by the title and completely without Moby's knowledge.
Everything Is Wrong is both the natural follow-up to his poignant debut but also something quite different. The album starts off with his techno, downtempo trademark, but with the two tracks "All That I Need Is to Be Loved" and "What Love?" he introduces a fascination for punk rock mixed with a hardcore rave and alt. metal electronic style, which takes the album in a completely different direction; however, other tracks are almost exact opposites with ambient bits and as natural contrasts but also merry soul and funk-styled compositions (e.g. the M People-like "Everytime You Touch Me") scattered across the album serve as counterparts to the fierce angry punk rock attitude.
Overall one could imagine the whole album as way too complex with tracks pointing in all sorts of directions, but with Moby you already here understand that "Everything isn't just wrong" - quite contrary in fact it's here a proven mission accomplished.
Frankly, I missed out this at the time of the release, and today I find it difficult to choose between his first two albums as they both seem essential.
I like it, it's gooood.
[ allmusic.com, Spin 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5, Q Magazine 3 / 5 stars ]

Moby "Moby" (1992)

Moby [debut]
release date: Jul. 1992
format: cd (1993)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,56]
producer: Moby
label: Rough Trade - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Everything" - 3. "Electricity" - 6. "Go" - 7. "Help Me to Believe" - 8. "Have You Seen My Baby?" - 9. "Ah Ah" - 10. "Slight Return"

Studio album debut by Moby [birth name Richard Melville Hall] aka Barracuda, aka Brainstorm, aka The Brotherhood, Lopez, Voodoo Child [etc.] originally released on Instinct Records and released by Rough Trade in Europe in 1993 with a slightly alternate tracklisting where the first track "Drop a Beat" had been exchanged for "Thousand" (track #12, not on the original '92 release) meaning that the original second track "Everything" was put as first track followed by the remainders, so that the European version also consisted of twelve tracks.
Stylistically, this was referred to as rave-techno - today it would probably be seen as a combo of more traditional American techno with inspiration from EBM [Electronic Body Music] and newer European hardcore with elements of downtempo and breakbeat making it a bit of a melting pot of electronic styles.
I didn't know of the album or the genres involved at the time of its release. In fact, I didn't listen to Moby until after his great Play (1999) album and after having discovered the British artists of the electronic scene. To my knowledge, it was British artists like Underworld, Prodigy, Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim who were the most poignant electronic acts of the early-mid 1990s electronic scene; however, in retrospect I have come to understand the development of the scene as a result of artists on both sides of the Atlantic, and Moby as the perhaps most important American source.
Moby is a difficult listen, as you have to digest it in retrospect - putting aside your conceptions of styles and genres around as you try to absorb it as a fresh 'new'. Initially, I found it tedious and a bit boring, but it has grown on me over time, and I understand its significance, although, it still sounds dated. Fact is, there's not a huge stylistic difference from this and the (better) debut album by The Prodigy, Experience, released another two months later that year.
[ allmusic.com 5 / 5, Q 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

The Chemical Brothers "Exit Planet Dust" (1995)

Exit Planet Dust [debut]
release date: Jun. 26, 1995
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,76]
producer: Tom Rowlands, Ed Simons, Cheeky Paul
label: JBO / Freestyle Dust / Virgin - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Leave Home" (4 / 5) - 2. "In Dust We Trust" - 3. "Song to the Siren" - 4. "Three Little Birdies Down Beats"

Studio debut album by The Chemical Brothers consisting of Tom Rowlands and Ed Simmons. The album contains some really groundbreaking tracks. I only listened to the album after purchasing Dig Your Own Hole (1997), and I didn't find it nearly as appealing, until some 10 years later. Today, I fully understand the hype and attention they received from this, and it's striking how much it resembles the style and beats on Music for the Jilted Generation (1994) by The Prodigy, which is one of my favourite albums of the '90s. "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com 5 / 5, The Guardian, Select 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

Röyksopp "The Understanding" (2005)

The Understanding
release date: Jun. 27, 2005
format: cd (LTD.)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,32]
producer: Röyksopp
label: Wall of Sound - nationality: Norway

Track highlights: 1. "Triumphant" - 2. "Only This Moment" - 3. "49 Percent" - 7. "What Else Is There?" - 8. "Circuit Breaker" - 9. "Alpha Male" - *17. "Looser Now"
*Track 5 on bonus disc

2nd studio album by Norwegian duo Röyksopp continues where Melody A.M. ended - perhaps with an even stronger focus on synthpop on this.
The album was preceded by the single "Only This Moment", which fared quite Okay peaking at number #33 in the UK and as number #18 on the Dance list in the US. "49 Percent" was released after the album and it reached number #55 in the UK, but the single "What Else Is There?" featuring Karin Dreijer of the Swedish band The Knife became the best-selling single of the album peaking at number #32 on the general singles chart list in the UK; however, on top of the UK Dance list - and as number #4 in Norway. A fourth and final single release was issued in 2006 with the song "Beautiful Day Without You", which didn't leave traces on singles lists. The album entered the national albums chart list as number #1, peaked at number #7 in Sweden and number #13 in the UK.
The album doesn't contain a great number of hit songs but still serve to document how the duo is fully capable of making simplistic but alternative dance-friendly compositions without focusing on strong vocal harmonies, although, I still think they are best when making music with guest / featuring artists, which also is the case here with Chelonis R. Jones (tracks #3 and #13) and Karin Dreijer (track #7). Another thing, I like about the music is the way they make use of progressiveness as a musical trait, in a Jean-Michel Jarre (#9 "Alpha Male" and on other tracks) kind-of-way. It makes their music less confined though it often leaves me wanting it to lead to something instead of just running out.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone, Slant 3 / 5, The Guardian, NME 4 / 5 stars ]