- Record Label: Mantra/Beggars Banquet
- Release Date: Sep 18, 2001
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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This is one striking album from start to finish.
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There are no shocks or surprises, but instead, How I Long... thrills us softly, its tiny layers and details all intricately woven together into a cohesive and aesthetically delightful tapestry.
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It is a collection of whimsical neo-psychedelic folk songs of no little charm, but, crucially, little drama either.
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A testament to the influences of their youth; echoes of Lennon and McCartney, Simon and Garfunkel, Nick Drake, and Fairport Convention glide through the album before tiptoeing into a corner and reappearing a few tracks later.
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Practically a concept album about the bittersweet nature of nostalgia--specifically, nostalgia for, you guessed it, summer.
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How I Long to Feel That Summer in My Heart further underscores how brilliantly anomalous and unfashionably brilliant GZM are.
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The aged authenticity of these songs comes so easily that you'd be forgiven for thinking that they discovered the formula.
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Alternative PressGorky's emotional punch is as heavy as it ever was--despite the bells and whistles. [Jan 2002, p.84]
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Un-inspirationality aside, Gorky's still exhibits glimmers of sonic uniqueness and loads of pop craftsmanship throughout the record.
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The ghosts of prog exorcised fully at last, Gorky's have once more put in a serious challenge to the Super Furries as Wales' most inventive band, and they've produced an album that, both in terms of its astounding quantum leap and its ambitious orchestration, swings excitingly near to the Delgados' genius breakthrough opus 'The Great Eastern'.
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There is a feeling of carefully constructed, mellow folk simplicity running through all these songs.
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MojoTheir most affecting and cohesive statement to date. [Oct 2001, p.108]
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ResonanceThe voices of Euros and Megan Childs are a breath of mountain-fresh air, while the chamber-meets-country pop summons the spirit of Nick Drake. [#32, p.56]
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SpinGorky's make the leap from ramshackle prog pop to meticulously crafted folk-symphonics. [Nov 2001, p.130]
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Although they don't quite hit the emotional peaks and valleys of some of the tracks on labelmates Mojave 3's last disc, they've got a similarly fetching combination of lush music, terrific voices and sad but hopeful songs.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 5 out of 6
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Mixed: 0 out of 6
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Negative: 1 out of 6
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BrendanDJan 30, 2007