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Oct 22, 2010Familial sits in one mood and stays there-it's unfortunately not one you would like to be in for very long.
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MojoFamilial is an acoustically plucked, feet-on-the-ground record, Selway's fragile and inviting voice a delightful match for his slightly anxious, if misplaced, self-doubt. [Sep 2010, p.98]
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These largely acoustic songs, occasionally embellished with electronics and other effects, are geared for a quiet evening spent alone. Subtle, touching albums like this should be made more often, preferably by Selway and his associates here.
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Consequently Familial initially seems timid, even half-hearted, but persistence reveals an album full of sweet sentiment and honest meditations.
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Familial's far from brilliant, but you-snotty brat of the Radiohead generation, lapping up the languor of both Wavves' bong-odored holidays and the admittedly strange sight of Matt Berninger's kid on his shoulders-would do well to turn the dial of your irony meter from "post-post" to "zero" for a half an hour or so.
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Familial is a solo album that has qualities you might not have expected to begin with: vivid, memorable lyrics that describe a variety of emotions, its incredibly soft arrangements and, of course, the fact that he can actually sing, proving wrong the famous 'drummers are not frontmen' rock'n'roll myth in the process.
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Familial (Nonesuch), Philip Selway's solo debut, is more like a warm, delicate nest. Surrounded by pastoral acoustic guitars and whisper-level electronics, Mr. Selway--who wrote all the songs and farmed most of the drumming out to Glenn Kotche of Wilco--sings in a breathy, almost maternally soft voice about seeking peace and raising children.
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Even though this style of music has been done, and done well, by many others since the late '80s, the familiarity of Selway's debut makes it that much more agreeable.