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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Lovers
by The Sleepy Jackson


8.1

based on 15 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 8 votes
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Rate this album

Personality (One Was A Spider, One Was A Bird)

Official Artist Site

The Australian rockers, who have attracted attention in their homeland and in Europe with their early EPs, make their full-length debut with this LP.

LABEL:	Astralwerks
RELEASE DATE:	29 July 2003
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Indie, Rock

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...

Uncut

A sun-dappled, idiosyncratic delight, flooded with warmth and vitality, yet weighted by an undefinable sadness. [Aug 2003, p.108]

No Ripcord

A record that is rich, varied and a little crackers as well, Lovers will certainly stand as one of the best debut albums of the year.

Spin

Juicing fragile melodies with weeping George Harrison guitar, frontman Luke Steele is pretty even-keeled for a spaced-out pop maestro. [Nov 2003, p.117]

All Music Guide

While Luke Steele's influences show through on all of Lovers' tracks, somehow the album avoids sounding totally derivative; instead, it just reveals Steele as a pop chameleon and an expert at pastiche.

Rolling Stone

The evidence here suggests the Sleepy Jackson could make a great punk album, or a great country album, or a great psychedelic album. Instead, they've simply made a great album, and one of the best debuts of the year.

Under The Radar

Eclectic, certainly, but for the most part it works. [#5, p.108]

Q Magazine

Without resorting to difficult time signatures or moaning about the desperate pain of it all, [Luke] Steele has found a wonky path away from rock's mor restrictive conventions while still engaging positively with the world. [Aug 2003, p.113]

Outburn

A kaleidoscopic masterpiece that asserts itself as a spellbinding album. [#23, p.100]

Stylus Magazine

As eccentric as it is beautiful.

Dot Music

Steele's self-conscious attempts to create a legend for himself only distract from what is actually a very good album.

PopMatters

So what do you hear when you listen to this record? There's the happy, choral rock of the Polyphonic Spree, the blissed-out psychedelic rock of the Flaming Lips, the sloppy DIY aesthetic of '60s garage heroes the Fugs, as well as the Velvet Underground, Mercury Rev, Gram Parsons, George Harrison, the Stones, Joy Division, the New York Dolls, Fountains of Wayne ... and that's only on the first five songs.

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Lovers makes for an enjoyable, if exhausting, listen; at times, it sounds more like a sampler from a promising label than the work of one band.

Mojo

An overpoweringly diverse record. [Aug 2003, p.92]

Pitchfork

If his eccentricity was tamed and the pained attempts to hop genres were avoided, Luke Steele could just produce something close to sublime. As it stands, Lovers is a fairly pleasant application of some charming reference points, but please, let's stop pretending that that's good enough.

Splendid

Lovers' vast scope quickly becomes a daunting proposition for its listener.

The average user rating for this album is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

rosie s gave it a 10:
faaaantastic....i liked that all of the songs were different it made it interesting. i really hate being bored and Lovers kept me excited all the way through..it started well an stayed good.

Mac M gave it an 8:
Gloriously bouncing between the pop genius of Flaming Lips and Doves and off on completely unique tangents along the way, Luke Steele is the pride of West Australia. (And check out his kid sister's band Little Birdy who are wispfully cool, too!)

LaShan R gave it a 7:
wonderfully versatile with a great warming feel. a good background album with a lot of talent. impressive rock comeback for this years album releases.

Matt M gave it a 9:
Fantastic debut that continues the great legacy of awesome music coming out of Perth, Western Australia. This album has something for everyone. Psych Pop, Rock, Country & even spoken word. Check it out!

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Lovers by The Sleepy Jackson

Lovers
by The Sleepy Jackson