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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
Universal acclaim
Based on 23 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 26 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Kranky
Release Date: 19 February 2008
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rock, Alternative, Indie
Summary
The debut solo album from the lead singer of Deerhunter.
Also By This Artist: Logos
Also On The Web: Official MySpace Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Delusions of Adequacy
The music married to these wonderful lyrics is touching, gorgeous and stunning and there is no doubt in my mind that Atlas Sound has created, arguably, the best album of the year.
Read Full Review >Urb
Cold and sweet all at once while perched atop a reef of moody Krautrock, Let the Blind Lead has a progression that melts more than it floats.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
As with each of Cox's projects, Let the Blind works best as a swirling, disorienting whole, organizing traditionally abstract styles like graphic-design elements within his unifying vision until they communicate like good pop.
Read Full Review >Lost At Sea
While the record pleases on most all levels, the flavor of sound at times feels somewhat generic and a bit too lethargic, which keeps the disc from being great.
Read Full Review >No Ripcord
Bradford Cox has created a work that musically and lyrically will attach itself to your consciousness, reflecting exterior experience and encouraging inner association with the former.
Read Full Review >Mojo
His gentle mantric vocals and concise, evocative lyrics drift through layers of treated instrumentation and ambient electronica. [Apr 2008, p.112]
PopMatters
Let the Blind Lead‘s lovesickness and confessions, however, are as tenderly delivered as its hazy atmospherics are, and in their bare authenticity, are far more compelling in repeat indulgences than Deerhunter’s explorations.
Read Full Review >Tiny Mix Tapes
Each song has a distinctive quality that stands on its own. However, when you back away from the album as a whole, you begin to see that all these individual elements unify to make a greater holistic product.
Read Full Review >Alternative Press
Cox projects an otherwordly allure in his atmospheres and melodies that recall My Blood Valentine's recasting of rock as sound that prioritizes erotic texture and swoon-worthy levitation. [Mar 2008, p.140]
Billboard
Cox followed his muse and ran with it, and what resulted is a collection of music that's as intriguing as its creator.
Read Full Review >Drowned In Sound
There are times on Let the Blind…, when the music around Cox veers subtly in the right direction, where you can hear the grub’s surprise as he wakes up with Great Admiral wings, ugly white noise turning psychedelic.
Read Full Review >Dusted Magazine
He easily sidesteps the drama that dogged he and his band throughout 2007 (and ultimately led to their declaration of hiatus towards the end of the year), turning Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel into a beautifully melancholic slice of shimmering, ambient pop.
Read Full Review >Magnet
While Cox’s narratives make little sense (much of the time, he’s not even singing so much as wailing wordlessly), the music is surprisingly accessible.
Read Full Review >Paste Magazine
Cox blends rock instruments with organs, harps and his haunting, languid voice, and the result is a gentle, richly textured wall of sound.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
As is often the case with that genre [Too Pure acts like Seefeel], certain songs feel aimless and in dire need of an editor. But when they coalesce (as on the tender lament "Recent Bedroom" or the gentle Jesus And Mary Chain pop of "Ativan") it creates a beautiful, truly immersive world tailor-made for hiding and healing.
Read Full Review >Prefix Magazine
It's an uneven and at times painfully intimate record, but one that confirms the talent of a songwriter obsessed with illuminating his interior truth.
Read Full Review >Spin
In flashing back, Cox smears just the right amount of Vaseline on the lens. [Mar 2008, p.96]
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
The album's not faultless: as with Deerhunter, Cox has the tendency to try too hard to be profound, wanting so badly to say something important that he sounds trite and forced, and untrustworthy, but when he's able to forget about conveying some kind of meaning and instead focuses on the actual music, his message--one of pain and love and feeling lost, of trying desperately to understand--is undeniable.
Read Full Review >Blender
On his solo debut, Bradford Cox sinks, phantomlike, into lush, highly processed arrangements of organ, drum machine and (evidently) whatever instrument is laying around. The disappearing act really can be magical.
Read Full Review >Under The Radar
At times, it's as moody and transporting as great film music, but, fat too often, these songs never materialize into anything more substantial than vapor. [Winter 2008, p.80]
cokemachineglow
Let The Blind never pitches badly or throws up a truly terrible track to mack on and leaves me with the potentially duff argument that this record is really good at what it does, but what it does so exactingly reaches for breadthlessness that its under-ambition ends up under-cutting what made the songs pleasant and amenable in the first place.
Read Full Review >Sputnikmusic
Atlas Sound meanders where it ponders, a purely ethereal trip without the oomph.
Read Full Review >Slant Magazine
The psychiatric exercise of creating the album may have done him some good, but fans of Deerhunter's transcendent rock will have to wait for the band's next album if they want the kind of catharsis that is only hinted at here.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 26 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Christian P. gave it an8:
This is a really strong album. I enjoy it more than the Deerhunter album. The vocals are lovely and the music is hauntingly beautiful -- I suppose I had low expectations, but this is a solid album.
N Harpham gave it a9:
Cryptograms snuck up on me and beat me over the back of my head. I had no idea how powerful that album would be, in fact I didn't like it the first few times through. Most top tier albums are that way for me. So I can happily say that while I don't like this a lot on initial listen, I didn't like most of my all-time faves on initial listen. But there is just enough there to keep me coming back again. So many great albums aren't instantly likable. The albums that are instantly likable usually have a short shelf life. I'm really excited to unlock the secrets here.
Hügo T. gave it a10:
Step into the world of boundless imagination. As the Album plays, you can feel as it pours through the whole body. Slowly like a dope dream. Its a magical down tempo. All lies in its playfulness, which is the key how to get along with the sound full of psychedelia and experimentality.
Andy L. gave it a10:
It's ambience with a touch of playfullness, genius.
Anton S. gave it a9:
Wonderful and unusual!
Paul C. gave it a6:
Certain types of music tend to be overvalued on metacritic (see The Field, Burial, etc.). The new album from Atlas Sound falls into this category. Listening to this album is a forgettable experience. It's not that it's bad--there are moments that are quite pleasant--it's just that none of the music stands out in anyway. I kept waiting for a song on this album to really break out but it never did. I'm sure I'll listen to this album a few more times, but will I be listening to it in June? Not likely, and if an album has a shelf-life of a couple months in rotation, well frankly, that's not worth an 80+ rating in my book.
David R. gave it a5:
The best album of the year? Doesn't Delusions of Inadequacy know it's early February? If anybody deserves an 'album of the year' honor this early it's the sweater-wearing afropop punks Vampire Weekend.
