Given to the Wild
- The Maccabees
- Band Name: The Maccabees
- Record Label: Fiction
- Release Date: Jan 9, 2012
- Critic Score
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Jan 13, 201295The Maccabees have returned as a highly evolved beast more than ready to be released into the wild world.
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Feb 10, 201290Impressively diverse but united by a strain of quintessentially Maccabeean hopeless hopefulness, it's an outpouring of both technical brilliance and affective emotion that thrives in its sheer humanity.
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Jan 10, 201290The album is beautifully structured, leading from spare and shimmery beginnings into harder, weirder and more varied territories, all those snippets and elements and personalities crafted into a shifting, subtle whole that quietly captures your attention from start to end.
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Jan 5, 201290I have seen the future of dreamy pop, and its name is The Maccabees.
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Feb 10, 201280Not the finished article, but as close as the (still) youthful band are likely to come at this stage.
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Jan 17, 201280If progress is their aim, then this is fine proof of how a softly-softly approach is often best.
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Jan 9, 201280There are no standout songs but that's kind of the point: GTTW washes over you like a cooling stream on a hot day.
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Jan 5, 201280The songs are so delicately crafted that it never feels predictable. [Feb 2012, p.103]
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Jan 5, 201280If only all bands had the guts and honesty of The Maccabees, maybe they'd get round to making third records as good as this.
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Jan 5, 201280It's an album that bucks a trend rather than starts one: an elegant and unexpected leave-taking from the indie landfill.
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Jan 19, 201278It's their breakthrough album and shows that with focus and confidence, the future could be pretty exciting for The Maccabees.
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Feb 27, 201270Given to the Wild is an accomplished, filler-free record that presents a band at peak condition, handily exceeding the marginal example set by similar-sounding acts.
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Jan 17, 201270Given to the Wild is resolutely The Maccabees best.
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Jan 5, 201270Somewhat uneasy listening in places, yet sublime in others, Given To The Wild should rid The Maccabees of those 'landfill' jibes once and for all.
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Jan 31, 201260It's hard not to wish for more. Or maybe less. [Feb 2012, p.95]
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Jan 13, 201250The heart-thumping energy of their first records is not in evidence, and Given To The Wild feels like a wasted opportunity.
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Feb 13, 201240The personalities on this album are so blank the songs may as well be performed by apps, and sung by Siri.
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Jan 9, 201240Even at its best, Given To The Wild sounds like British Sea power without the esoteric charm, which is hardly the heartiest of recommendations. [Feb 2012, p.91]
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Jan 9, 201240Can only be described as… the sound of Coldplay.
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Jan 6, 201240The unambitious nature of Given to the Wild is all the more disappointing for the intriguing glimmers of inspiration furnished by their collaboration with Roots Manuva.