• Record Label: 4AD
  • Release Date: Jan 16, 2012
Metascore
60

Mixed or average reviews - based on 33 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 33
  2. Negative: 3 out of 33
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  1. Feb 17, 2012
    70
    Perhaps keen to avoid their one-hit wonder status, follow-up Future This eschews their original experimental ambitions by shamelessly attempting to repeat its success.
  2. Feb 10, 2012
    60
    The album's middle section treads water--'The Palace' passes by without making any impression whatsoever, '1313′ sounds like a more conventional Panda Bear--and then it all goes tits up.
  3. Feb 10, 2012
    50
    It's the inconsistency of Future This--particularly the band's newfound tenderness vs. Their miscalculated explosions of noise--that make it a largely baffling listen.
  4. Feb 10, 2012
    60
    A thick as muck yet intelligent pop album.
  5. Feb 7, 2012
    76
    Future This delivers the same formula, but does so with perhaps one too many tracks.
  6. Mojo
    Jan 31, 2012
    80
    This is top-drawer pop, ambitious and thrillingly contemporary. [Feb 2012, p.94
  7. Jan 30, 2012
    39
    The majority of Future This is a punishingly noisy, hookless mess that contains precious few of the qualities that endeared folks to the Big Pink to begin with.
  8. Jan 26, 2012
    60
    The result is an album with chart-worthy songs that are uncomfortably familiar at times and a touch low on risk.
  9. Jan 19, 2012
    70
    It largely succeeds.
  10. Jan 19, 2012
    50
    If only conviction had been more successfully transposed onto their music, the band could have produced a follow-up that would not have had to contend with standing in its predecessor's large, looming shadow.
  11. Jan 18, 2012
    50
    Everyone involved seems to simply be shrugging along in an almost cynical fashion, figuring people will buy it no matter what they do.
  12. 60
    Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell's second album isn't done for by a lack of ambition, but rather the imagination required to realise it.
  13. Jan 17, 2012
    29
    Future This is stuck in some kind of awful, awful limbo between Robert Smith-less Cure and hyperbolic electro dance music.
  14. Jan 17, 2012
    70
    The Big Pink has put out an electro-rock album that does not exactly redefine the future of music like the album title may suggest, but it does redefine the Big Pink.
  15. Jan 17, 2012
    50
    The Big Pink's insistence on keeping their amplifiers and ambition turned all the way up to 11 for the length of Future This makes for a decidedly dull listen and one that'll leave many fans hoping that the band will scale things back for album number three.
  16. Jan 17, 2012
    69
    It demands attention, and it has just enough glitch and grime to remind you that it's not 30 years old.
  17. Jan 17, 2012
    75
    It's uncomplicated and unfettered, a perfectly fine album.
  18. Jan 17, 2012
    70
    Future This is a shift to a cleansed, more professional-minded sound, capturing their flares in short, distinct bursts.
  19. Jan 17, 2012
    52
    Where the Big Pink previously sounded invincible, nearly every attempt to intellectualize or streamline their sound makes Future This come off as timid and malnourished.
  20. Jan 13, 2012
    70
    As the sound of a band still in development mode and not quite sure of their identity, Future This offers a lucid insight into where their next sonic adventure may take them.
  21. Jan 13, 2012
    30
    In the end it's hard to fathom just who is going to really love this album.
  22. 40
    A few decent songs may be lurking behind all the sonic detritus; but perhaps they ought to ditch the multitracks and get themselves a ukulele.
  23. Jan 12, 2012
    40
    Much of this followup sounds like it's aiming to replicate the feel of that radio-friendly unit-shifter [Dominos] rather than the dreamy haze of early songs like Velvet. Occasionally it works.
  24. Jan 12, 2012
    50
    The fumbling effort to harmonize their irreverence and earnestness leaves the Big Pink ultimately stranded, and the result is a hook-deficient album that wears on the ears after only a few listens.
  25. 83
    The U.K. duo's latest, produced by indie kingmaker Paul Epworth (Adele), updates the best of '80s shoegaze with breakbeat rhythms and arena-worthy choruses.
  26. Jan 11, 2012
    50
    For those who don't mind a slight drop-off in substance, Future This packs all the energy needed to fill arenas and get people jumping and swaying in a U2-inspired trance.
  27. Jan 10, 2012
    63
    Future This is ultimately more melodic than its laborious predecessor. But around the "ballads" in the second half, you start longing for a point.
  28. Q Magazine
    Jan 10, 2012
    40
    Sees Milo Cordell and Robbie Furze being drawn further into the stadium-electro wind tunnel. [Feb. 2012 p. 101]
  29. Uncut
    Jan 9, 2012
    60
    The album sags in the middle, descending into slick electro-rock territory worryingly reminiscent to Garbage, but the good songs are terrific. [Feb 2012, p.81]
  30. Jan 9, 2012
    70
    Future This is a coherent, uniform proposition, a proper album, rather than a melange of posturing and botched experimentation, as was the case with A Brief History Of Love.
  31. Jan 9, 2012
    70
    [The closing track is] evidence of a big pink heart and of these musicians' ability to transcend their beats-based mindset. In other words, time for the boys to really future this.
  32. Jan 9, 2012
    70
    While offering more of the same, nevertheless does it with sparkle and verve.
  33. Jan 9, 2012
    60
    So the songs merge into one, and the parts add up to less than the whole. And taken as a whole Future This is a bit much.
User Score
6.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 13 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 13
  2. Negative: 3 out of 13
  1. Jan 20, 2012
    9
    Great record and better than their debut album. "Hit the ground" and "Stay gold" are their best songs yet and this sophomore release isGreat record and better than their debut album. "Hit the ground" and "Stay gold" are their best songs yet and this sophomore release is surely worth the listen. Full Review »
  2. Jan 20, 2012
    9
    I don't know why there's so much hate for this record, I really don't. I can see where most people wouldn't say it's better than A BriefI don't know why there's so much hate for this record, I really don't. I can see where most people wouldn't say it's better than A Brief History of Love but really, it's not some completely bad album that's not worth checking out. I really loved it and I don't get why there's such universal dislike.

    I'd even go as far as to say it might be a little better than their first album. It doesn't have a "Velvet" but it's more consistent and well developed. It's something new, it's worth listening to.
    Full Review »
  3. Jan 20, 2012
    2
    'Future This' is an unoriginal attempt at recreating the success of the Big Pink's one chart hit 'Dominoes' and every song fails at that.'Future This' is an unoriginal attempt at recreating the success of the Big Pink's one chart hit 'Dominoes' and every song fails at that. There is very little to like about this album, including the fact that there is no good song, and instead it sounds like a bunch of people who have no idea what they are doing. This album redefines awkwardness and ends up becoming the perfect example of what you don't want to do on your second album. Full Review »