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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Valende
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 18 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 9 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Sub Pop
Release Date: 25 January 2005
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Summary
'Valende' is the third album overall and American debut for the Italian psychedelic rock band Jennifer Gentle. (Note that there is nobody in the band actually named Jennifer, and we are unsure about exactly how gentle they are.)
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site Sub Pop
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...
Stylus Magazine
Valende is really a more significant album than a lot of people seem to be giving it credit for being, and one hopes that it will be remembered as such.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
Syd Barrett meets Fellini. [28 Jan 2005, p.85]
Tiny Mix Tapes
We find ourselves encountering songs that give themselves the time and space to breathe, build, incorporate shimmering choirs of backing singers and more layered overdubs than you can shake a stick at into the mix.
Read Full Review >Alternative Press
Most of Valende's songs have that creepy nursery-rhyme thing that people who read too much Lewis Carroll would call "whimsy." [Mar 2005, p.132]
All Music Guide
As familiar as the psychedelic reference points may be, Jennifer Gentle are able to distill them into something contemporary, or at least make listeners feel like contemporaries of a psychedelic era, both past and present.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
It reveals a manic, uncommon glint in their inventive fires, the unmistakable fervid gleam which accompanies artists who know exactly what they're doing, even if the rest of us don't.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
It's hard to hear some of these songs coming from the same country, let alone the same band, as some of the others, and this lack of stylistic (or any sort of) cohesion may prove Jennifer Gentle's undoing.
Read Full Review >Mojo
A kaleidoscopic funfair of angloid psychedelia, baroque folk-pop and open-minded sonic exploration. [Mar 2005, p.96]
Splendid
Effortlessly charming and strangely compelling, despite moments of complete and utter unlistenability.
Read Full Review >Magnet
Whimsical, immaculately realized music. [#67, p.98]
Paste Magazine
An esoteric, wonderfully eccentric psychedelic record. [#14, p.123]
Lost At Sea
Its sagging middle aside, Valende may be one of the stronger psychedelic pop releases to come my way in the last couple of years.
Read Full Review >Dusted Magazine
JG manages to both make fun and have fun, their music more goofy than cynical.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle
You're left wondering what you just ingested, and how you can score more.
Read Full Review >Billboard
At times compelling in its eccentricities, this record emphasizes experimentation rather than tunefulness.
Read Full Review >Under The Radar
The wide-eyed soundtrack to an afternoon-stoner daydream. [#8, p.106]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Aaron J. gave it a9:
Very strange voice! Very naive spychedelia!
charlotte r gave it a9:
hypnotic, mysterious and...er...gentle psychedelic pop from italy's finest. "i do dream you" sounds like a lost '60's gem, but the real highlight is "circles of sorrow": almost seven minutes of sheer beauty. brilliant!
JD Burton gave it a9:
best album i bought in a while. warm, subtle acid folk from two Italian guys who took too much lsd.
Laurence HC gave it a3:
Awfully unbearable! Two songs are acceptable... but the rest is hideous!
