- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
There's nothing really new or earth-shattering about this album, but that's not a prerequisite for great rock & roll.
-
It seems particularly odd that for all the time and sweat Stoltz has put into this music, there's no sense of a real person behind these songs, just a tightly wound bundle of ideas borrowed from likely pop sources.
-
UncutHis home-recorded approach reaches imaginatively beyond glossy pastiche. [Mar 2006, p.90]
-
Mojo2006's album of the year may have arrived early. [Mar 2006, p.104]
-
Q MagazineHomebrewed splendour. [Mar 2006, p.110]
-
Rolling StoneIt sounds like he had a lot of fun making this record. [9 Feb 2006, p.62]
-
Under The RadarShows terrific restraint and taste in song selection. [#12, p.97]
-
Below The Branches is, maybe, the first perfect summertime album, absolutely brimming with brightness and charm.
-
Entertainment WeeklyRetro lo-fi pop-rock, dressed in pounded parlor-room piano chords and psych-folk filigree. [10 Feb 2006, p.134]
-
Rates among the best releases of early 2006.
-
A record that spits in the eye of assertions that they don’t make records like they used to.
-
This is a brief, refreshing escape from the trend-channeling that seems to have replaced genuineness.
-
The New York TimesIn concise, perpetually tuneful songs, his voice echoes the slouchy charm of the Kinks' Ray Davies, while the sun-dazed reverberations of the Beach Boys meet the music-hall bounce of the Beatles. [6 Feb 2006]
-
I’d suggest that it’s a grower, but that doesn’t seem apt, as there’s very little depth to let grow here. What it is, however, is a winner, an album that seems loathable at first but tenaciously refuses to quit grinning.
-
Below the Branches is the kind of record true lovers of classic 60s and 70s pop can adore.
-
A wonderful pop record.
-
It is quite possibly Stoltz's best work ever, and certainly one of the landmark releases of 2006.
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 7 out of 8
-
Mixed: 0 out of 8
-
Negative: 1 out of 8
-
KyleZMay 11, 2007I saw Stoltz live opening for the Raconteurs last July. I have been listening to this album ever since.
-
ThidwickBigheartedmooseMay 9, 2006wobbly singing, gorgeous melodies, sloppy production, beautiful harmonies, everything you want in a record!
-
AllawahFMar 12, 2006