- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Feb 15, 2012Less brutal, lighter, and more nuanced, with carefully chosen snippets of cornet and piano.
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MojoDec 22, 2011A liminal, dreamlike music of eye-moistening poignancy. [Aug 2011, p.106]
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Nov 22, 2011Interestingly, the presence of the source music doesn't detract from the spooky, remote quality that characterizes The Caretaker.
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Nov 22, 2011While the record is certainly appreciable on purely musical terms--this is evocative, heart-tugging stuff--when knowledge of Kirby's intent lurks underneath the damaged acetate grooves, it becomes something else entirely: A poignant interrogation of memory loss and aging.
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Nov 22, 2011In bringing to light these stillborn-again pleasures, The Caretaker reveals himself to be nothing less than formidably eponymous.
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Nov 22, 2011As a whole, An Empty Bliss is a remarkably cohesive listen and one that achieves its goals, but whether or not it, in and of itself, is an entirely creative work is another question entirely.
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Nov 22, 2011Even with today's technology, harvesting emotions as such is perplexing and strenuous. But Kirby does it with a special kind of grace.
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Nov 22, 2011Bliss is eerie because it takes the seduction of those forms and turns it slightly askew; there's something unsettling about the musical equivalent of a permanent smile.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 11 out of 12
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Mixed: 1 out of 12
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Negative: 0 out of 12
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May 17, 2013