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Mar 31, 2015This is one of the most profound heart and soul records I've ever experienced.
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Mar 31, 2015It blends the newer sounds of the group’s recent output with the warmth and accessibility of its earlier work, which makes for a fine cocktail.
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Apr 1, 2015It’s a smartly shaped response to two recent disentanglements, at least one of which seems to have left a residue of trauma.
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Mar 30, 2015Kintsugi sees their eighteen-year-in-the-making intentions fully realised, and--eight albums in--Death Cab For Cutie are born again; a little cracked, but all the more golden for it.
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UncutMar 6, 2015The tautly controlled power of the performances meshes with the barely harness emotion of Ban Gibbard's impeccably sculpted, tortured lyrics. [Apr 2015, p.73]
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Mar 30, 2015Though the potential for melodrama is strong, Gibbard and his bandmates play with restraint.
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Apr 6, 2015Kintsugi hits hard due to its lightness, its bitter heart shrouded in soft arpeggios and catchy riffs.
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Mar 31, 2015You’ll find oblique references [to the departure of producer Chris Walla and frontman Ben Gibbard’s divorce from actress Zooey Deschanel], but it’s just as easy to find yourself in these 11 tracks.
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Mar 31, 2015At its core, Kintsugi takes broken pieces and finds ways to put them back together into something new.
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Mar 31, 2015Gibbard has a gentle touch so having cushy, sugary melodies mirrored by a production equally as supple feels like a marriage of intent and sound.
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Mar 31, 2015So maybe Kintsugi isn’t a perfect effort. But like the ceramic art itself, Death Cab’s attempt at repatching was thoughtful, deliberate and, at times, really beautiful.
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Mar 31, 2015Death Cab have coped with their losses collectively, and emerged with a heart-wrenchingly honest record.
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Mar 30, 2015With Kintsugi, the cracks in the Death Cab veneer are undoubtedly visible, shiny or not. While many of the tracks fall flat, the vestiges of their prior form--confession and melody and, ultimately, charm--will likely still be evident enough to keep fans enamored.
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Mar 23, 2015Kintsugi is a finely-made tearjerker of a record that evokes similar levels of sadness as those examples, featuring some crisp and well-structured songwriting that launches torrents of emotive air strikes to summon an appropriate degree of solemnity.
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Apr 30, 2015The acoustic "Hold No Guns" and yawning dirge "You've Haunted Me All My Life" spin austere--dramatic--but ring flat. Even so, Death Cab for Cutie's breakup ballads remain anthemic and radio-ready.
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Entertainment WeeklyMar 30, 2015Outside of the runaway-goth jam "The Ghosts of Beverly Drive," their latest rarely rises above inertly pleasant. [3 Apr 2015, p.61]
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Apr 3, 2015Gibbard’s downcast verses keep Kintsugi all too safely anchored and docked.
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Apr 2, 2015Kintsugi is unfortunately as bland as they come, and no good amount of mourning, sonorous guitars can excuse the fact it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find a relatable common ground in Gibbard’s repressed impulses.
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Mar 31, 2015Kintsugi suffers from many of the same flaws that have afflicted past releases, from a tendency to overthink arrangements to Gibbard’s more frequent relapses into trite turns of phrase and the occasional hint of immaturity.
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Mar 30, 2015Where Kintsugi falters is in its sacrifice of momentum for structure.
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Mar 26, 2015It doesn’t always work: sometimes it’s too overwrought and wanders into cliched territory.
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Mar 25, 2015The band's maturing on Kintsugi, which, if you remember the haircut and attitude of your 16-year-old self, is always a good thing.
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MojoMar 19, 2015Its 11, quietly assured alt-rock growers let Ben Gibbard's appealingly detached vocals and quality-controlled lyrics do the heavy lifting. [Apr 2015, p.94]
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Q MagazineMar 6, 2015While they are likely to appease their devotees with this solid, if unadventurous record, it seems that Death Cab For Cutie will continue preaching to the converted. [Apr 2015, p.110]
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Alternative PressMar 6, 2015These offerings feel uncharacteristically flat. [Apr 3015, p.92]
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Mar 31, 2015Discarding the albums actually awesome opener, “No Room in Frame”,--which briefly had me hoping for some tangible musical progress from the band--Kintsugi is more or less 45 minutes of boy-next-door, paint-by-number indie pop
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Apr 2, 2015Little of Kintsugi gives the impression that Gibbard’s motivation to reboot Death Cab is matched by legitimate inspiration.
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Mar 30, 2015Despite its strengths, Kintsugi fails to leave the same lasting impression as so much of the band's prior discography.
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Mar 27, 2015Gibbard never swings hard enough to strike out completely, with occasionally unfortunate production balanced by warm melodies, one of Gibbard’s greatest strengths as a musician.
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Mar 31, 2015Kintsugi is the sound of a group resting on its laurels.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 41 out of 57
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Mixed: 13 out of 57
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Negative: 3 out of 57
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Mar 31, 2015
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May 18, 2015
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Apr 20, 2015