All Things Will Unwind
by My Brightest Diamond
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 22
  3. Negative: 0 out of 22
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  1. Uncut
    Oct 18, 2011
    60
    It's stylistically impressive, but Worden only connects emotionally when she goes for simplicity. [Nov 2011, p.93]
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  2. Mojo
    Jan 11, 2012
    60
    Worden can be preposterously experimental - but she's always intriguing. [Dec. 2011 p.96]
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  3. Dusted Magazine
    Oct 17, 2011
    50
    On All Things Will Unwind, though, the bursts of inspiration in each corner and crevice remain too stiff to merge into anything more than the sum of their parts.
  5. Prefix Magazine
    Oct 19, 2011
    50
    So while it sounds pleasant throughout, and sometimes awfully beautiful, it won't stick with you as long as it could after the album's final notes fade.

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User Score
7.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 10 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 10
  3. Negative: 1 out of 10
  1. aarondu
    Oct 30, 2011
    5
    What is wrong with this album? Why has My Brightest Diamond not yet exceeded the sum of its quite glorious parts? Like Worden's previousWhat is wrong with this album? Why has My Brightest Diamond not yet exceeded the sum of its quite glorious parts? Like Worden's previous albums as MBD, Unwind fails to break through the singer's showy persona to something more personal and raw. Worden's voice is an amazing instrument--she could sing the phonebook and I'd listen--but it seems she hasn't found the right combination of theater and life, and she frequently errs on the side of theater. "There's a Rat" and "Ding Dang" are cringingly twee, with the high-pitched vocal squeaks on the former and spoken action words of "Snap! Kerplam! Kalamazoo!" on the latter. If these are songs about the urban ruins of Detroit, why are they so damn happy? What purpose are all these instruments actually serving? Indeed Worden's most beautiful song to date is The Gentlest Gentleman, a B-side from her previous LP "A Thousand Shark's Teeth." It has a quality that Unwind sorely lacks--understated and genuine, it impresses without trying. It's a hard quality to describe or place, and some tracks on this record truly are exciting and engaging. The self pep-talk "Be Brave" builds to an electrifying climax; the intriguing duet "Everything Is in Line" offers a haunting dialogue between Worden and an effeminate, otherworldly voice; the quiet "She Does Not Brave the War" offers a touching reminder of overlooked women who take care of us. One could almost find Worden's cutesiness and musical theater sensibilities to be an audacious risk in our ironic age--hell, didn't everyone think that about Joanna Newsom's Ys?--but while Newsom's creaky voice gave us a way to empathize with her weird tales, Worden's soaring pipes are just another layer of shellack. Which is too bad, because this could have been one hell of a record.… Full Review »
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