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Cruel Optimism Image
Metascore
82

Universal acclaim - based on 9 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: The latest release for the Australian artist features contributions from Chris Abrahams, Tony Buck, Mats Gustafsson, Thor Harris, Heinz Riegler, and Norman Westberg.
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. Feb 9, 2017
    80
    It’s invigorating and profound, mapping a sonic current which traverses moments of gently unfolding beauty (The Quietest Shore) and even brassy grandiosity (particularly on the widescreen projections of Exquisite Human Microphone).
  2. Apr 26, 2017
    80
    With this album, English has created something awe-inspiring: strange, elemental, and profound. Very little music so masterfully evokes the towering, savage beauty of the natural world, and the insignificance of man in the face of its enormity and power.
  3. Feb 9, 2017
    80
    Something political and socially aware, but rather than aid it stands adrift, documenting the prostrate torment that tears through most bereft of power and consumes by the traumatic fallout, all delivered in a sensory wave, something that absorbs and immerses, envelops, is inescapable, yet never lectures.
  4. Feb 16, 2017
    80
    This isn’t background noise, it demands your attention through its rich and layered compositions. But it's never overly fussy, rather it’s maximalism through a less is more approach.
  5. Mar 16, 2017
    80
    As a result, it’s not only timely, but also timelessly painful, beautiful, and powerful.
  6. Mar 9, 2017
    74
    The result is an album that feels personal but also universal.
  7. 70
    Experimental works like this aren’t typically held up for their broad appeal, but the waves of static peace and disorienting swells that wash back and forth over Cruel Optimism communicate on an open plane where specific meaning is obscured but state of mind is apparent to anyone.

See all 9 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of
  2. Mixed: 0 out of
  3. Negative: 0 out of