- Critic score
- Publication
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It displays both crypticness and honesty, intellectualism and vulgarity in equal measure, challenging and placating its audience in the same drawn-out, undefined, nasally breath.
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Alternative PressIt's not as groundbreaking as "Eyelash," but it's another small step in the group's constant evolution. [Apr 2008, p.163]
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Alopecia exhibits impressive growth and an admirable attention to detail that places yet another unique stone along Yoni Wolf’s fascinating career arc.
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There’s nothing else like this out there that’s as perfectly realised as this, and to draw upon previous, albeit indirect precedents, that leaves only one outcome from this unruly verbiage.
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The lyrical approach has so far kept me from really warming to it, but the words are ugly and weird in an interesting way, which makes me think that maybe eventually a light will come on and it will become one of my favorites.
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FilterI have no idea what's he's saying. I have absolutely no idea why the record is called Alopecia. But as I keep playing it, I really don't care. [Winter 2008, p. 100]
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Alopecia is a very good, occasionally great record that is just a little bit closer to nailing this hip-hop acid nightmare of a sound than what's come before it.
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MojoWolf's sing-speak vocals are arresting. [May 2008, p.112]
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As for his lyrics, it's wrong to call them stream-of-consciousness, since that implies Wolf is a poor self-editor; nothing about Alopecia is lazy. It's more like 5 a.m. journal entries cut up and turned to collage.
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Alopecia goes beyond heartache and self-pity to examine the desperation, self-loathing and delirium that a relationship can leave in its wake. Wolf deftly renders this misery with a painter’s eye, refusing to shy from even the most embarrassing details, damning though they may be.
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Once you get the lay of the land of Alopecia -- with its ethereal production, endlessly analyzable wordplay, and moments of supreme pop clarity -- it’s a captivating realm to explore.
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Q MagazineHe sing-raps stream-of-consciousness tales that, coupled with instrumentation from his brother Josiah and Doug McDiarmid, create contagious songs. [May 2008, p.141]
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For me personally their sound isn't progressive any more--it's regressive.
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Laced with bariny raps, cooing backing vocals, and a keen attention to meloncholy melodic detail, Why? almost one-ups those heady precursors [Fountains of Wayne, Rentals]. [Apr 2008, p.106]
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Alopecia stands out as an interesting little album.
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The WireThere's being reflective and then there's navel-gazing, and unfortunately Alopecia is too frequently guilty of the latter to really engage either the mind or heart. [Apr 2008, p.66]
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Alopecia, their third full-length release and second as a full band, is a darkly tinged juggernaut.
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UncutAlopecia is another woozily layered, beguilingly fractured affair, driven by beats and samples. [May 2008, p.113]
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Under The RadarWhy? are back with their most accessible record to date. [Spring 2008, p.85]
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It’s a syrup-sick pop rotted by dark folk, elaborate rhythms and droning psychedelia, but it’s always tight--meticulously so--making Alopecia an across the-board delicacy of warped obsession.
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It's his lyrics, brutally honest and often desperate, that elevate Alopecia from curiosity to conquest.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 38 out of 43
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Mixed: 1 out of 43
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Negative: 4 out of 43
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Nov 23, 2010
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BenK.Apr 18, 2008Not usually my style, but I can't stop listening. Gets more melancholic every time I play it.
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JamesM.Apr 16, 2008Excellent, although a bit hit and miss in my opinion.