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Oct 22, 2013A gorgeous showcase that brings together everything you've ever loved about Wareham's music, Emancipated Hearts isn't just a mini-album, it's a minor masterpiece.
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UncutJan 15, 2014Delicately arranged, and sympathetically drenched in reverb by producer Jason Quever, its six tracks find him in typically hushed mood. [Feb 2014, p.83]
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MojoDec 18, 2013Fuses Velvetsy heartbeat minimalism with pastoral strings and acoustic guitar. [Jan 2014, p.104]
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Nov 25, 2013As ever, Wareham’s work sounds like the model of stateliness and simplicity, but look beneath the surface, and you’ll find a deep, rewarding roil of complex emotional currents.
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Nov 6, 2013It may have taken more than a quarter of a century to come to fruition, but this lack of hurry is exactly what makes Dean Wareham's first solo outing so stirring.
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Nov 1, 2013Wareham's fragile delivery imparts an eggshell vulnerability to songs that track contemporary anxieties, such as "The Deadliest Day Since the Invasion Began", but finds its natural home in the lilt of the Incredible String Band's "Air".
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Oct 28, 2013Wareham delivers Emancipated Hearts through a dark yet dreamy fog, honouring his past pedigree as well as finding fresh dimensions for his songcraft in the process.
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Oct 22, 2013Even at six tracks, it’s stunning how much life (and death) Wareham spreads over these tracks, and makes these tiny whispers of songs feel like the biggest secret anyone’s ever told you.
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Dec 6, 2013There’s a world-weariness to Emancipated Hearts that only comes with age, and Wareham’s the kind of songwriter who is nothing but honest about where his head is at any given point.
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Oct 22, 2013There’s rarely a moment over the past 25 years where Dean Wareham’s failed to deliver an album that’s at least three-quarters brilliant, and Emancipated Hearts doesn’t change that record.
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Oct 22, 2013Here we see the man post-fallout, head buried in his hands. Amidst the defeat, Wareham is still committed to describing the intricacy of his surroundings with a wide-eyed wonder.
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Oct 22, 2013His first solo album is characteristically refined and intimate, sung in a hymnlike mumble and steeped in the Velvet Underground, classical string drones, synth-pop and country music.