• Record Label: Merge
  • Release Date: Jun 29, 2018
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 7
  2. Negative: 0 out of 7
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  1. Jun 29, 2018
    90
    Hardly Electronic is a mature and polished album from a band confident enough to let their influences guide their sound without overshadowing it. Longtime fans will obviously snap this up, but anyone with an interest in classically-minded pop arrangements and great songs will find much to like on this unexpected gem from the Essex Green.
  2. Jul 6, 2018
    83
    At 14 tracks long, there are a few songs on Hardly Electronic that feel superfluous. But that’s a minor quibble, especially since we’ve been without new music from The Essex Green for a dozen years. ... And now, Hardly Electronic is here, and it more than makes up for lost time.
  3. Jul 31, 2018
    80
    The Essex Green direct their flawless studies in pop to disconnected friends in the 21st century; even after 12 years, they haven't slept a wink.
  4. Jun 29, 2018
    80
    The record is good enough, and the band skilled enough, that even one year without a new album from them would feel like an eternity.
  5. Uncut
    Jun 29, 2018
    70
    Hardly Electronic comprises 14 impeccably jangling, harmonic pastiches of Bacharach, McCartney and Free Design, with only Sasha Bell's sardonic vocals striking a welcome sour note. [Aug 2018, p.27]
  6. Sep 4, 2018
    60
    Not all the songs on Hardly Electronic are as affecting--and some of them are just good bubbly pop fun. There are some misses--the country-ish “Bye Bye Crow” isn’t very good--but most are at least solid and surprisingly fresh, and a few are much better than that.
  7. Mojo
    Jun 29, 2018
    60
    A first album since 2006 reflects interim activities. [Aug 2018, p96]

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