- Critic score
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- By date
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Apr 8, 2013The creative progression O'Brien exhibits here leaves no lingering questions of doubt whether he would succumb to the dreaded second album syndrome, and regardless of awards, wayland sees the Irishman at his best, both musically and lyrically.
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Jan 14, 2013The evocative lyrics sometimes suffer from overly mannered or just overdone phraseology.... But these are ultimately prices worth paying for the pleasingly poetic, adventurous and occasionally florid use of words that mark Villagers out as one of the more interesting, literate and imaginative storytellers of recent years.
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May 29, 2013A musician capable of creating lush if sometimes unlikely arrangements, he uses his particular prowess as a means of fashioning spectacular soundscapes.
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Apr 9, 2013On “Jackal,” O’Brien’s digressive songwriting was held together by a unifying palette. Here, he’s all over the place.
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Jan 14, 2013{Awayland} is just brilliant.
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Apr 17, 2013O’Brien, or Villagers rather, succeeded in creating an album rife with adventure and tragedy, made even more addictive with each listen.
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Jan 14, 2013Far from falling under the weight of either expectation or ambition, {awayland} is a far more magnificent progression from Jackal than any of us could have hoped for.
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Apr 23, 2013{Awayland} tends to feel without reason or necessity, as if thrown together more in effort to get something down than to say something that needed saying.
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MagnetMay 10, 2013{Awayland} is far more confident than 2010's Becoming A Jackal, its vision more ambitious, its poetry more conflicted, its melodies more complex, its execution more polished. [No. 98, p.61]
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MojoJan 18, 2013A picaresque journey through the cosmos. [Feb 2013, p.86]
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Feb 1, 2013Defying all expectations, they have taken a brave leap forward and delivered one of the first great albums of 2013.
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Jan 14, 2013Where there was tension and urgency [on his debut], now there's bigger, poppier and probably more commercially viable folk songs that don't quite pack the same punch.
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Jan 18, 2013Villagers ought to be applauded for their ambition to heave themselves away from expectation, and then mourned for their lack of conviction which discards them back into it.
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Jun 6, 2013Occasionally a lick of whimsical Irish poetry sneaks in (Earthly Pleasures), but lyrically O’Brien’s going for something more vague and profound.
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Jan 14, 2013To its credit, {Awayland} rarely comes across as false, but O'Brien's affinity for cleverness over clarity ensures it rarely comes across in any real way.
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Q MagazineJan 24, 2013{Awayland} is not blessed with the stark folkloric purity of Becoming A Jackal. It still confirms, however, that O'Brien is a songwriter out of step, out of time, and when he hits his lyrical stride, out of this world. [Feb 2013, p.110]
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Jun 4, 2013It’s when Villagers are at their most pure--be it on the brilliant chamber pop of Northing Arrived or the pure, instrumental pastoral of the title track--that {Awayland} is strongest; as opposed to when it’s trying to outsource itself to stylistic whimsy or fad.
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Jan 14, 2013O'Brien's voice is beautiful and his songwriting often adventurous, but there are times when the aim isn't as true as it could be.
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Jan 14, 2013The dazzling imagery comes with a rollercoasting voyage through acoustic soul, brass and--a new development--electronica.
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Jan 14, 2013With results both as pleasurable, as inventive and as absorbing as these, there seems no danger that the impact of {Awayland} will be merely momentary.
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Jan 14, 2013It's that rare commodity: an album to immerse yourself in and spend time with, both things no one does any more.
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Feb 11, 2013There’s a balanced mix of wistful folk, and rockier, more radio-friendly offerings which lure in the casual listener, ensuring an enduring record that warms the cockles in these frosty fledgling weeks of 2013.
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Jan 14, 2013The Dubliner's follow-up, though no less literate, is more adventurous and electronic.
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Jan 14, 2013{Awayland} is a treasure trove of an album, brimming with ideas, most of which work and all of which, at the very least, prove that O'Brien is not simply another little-boy-lost lamenting the fact his parents wouldn't pass him the salt, but a songwriter of real note.
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Feb 12, 2013As an exercise in artfully executed pop maximalism, {Awayland} is unquestionably a treat.... All he needs now is something worth saying.
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UncutJan 15, 2013The edges may be sharper, the outlook less austere and self-contained, but Villagers are still defined by songs which deliver hook upon hook. [Feb 2013, p.82]
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Under The RadarMar 22, 2013The songs are well and good, the lyrics phenomenal at times, and the music solid. Yet there are enough moments when the album falls flat to deflate the impact of those golden moments. [Mar-Apr 2013, p.96]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 17 out of 18
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Mixed: 1 out of 18
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Negative: 0 out of 18
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Jan 30, 2014
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May 1, 2013