Buy Now
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Jun 7, 2016Including Light Upon the Lake's one jaunty instrumental ("Red Moon"), the 30-minute set of ten tunes will leave many wanting more, an auspicious trait for an otherwise satisfying debut.
-
Jun 6, 2016In its relentless fixation upon youth Light Upon The Lake seems to have stumbled across the timeless.
-
Jun 3, 2016Their dulcet, vintage tones intoxicate and overwhelm the senses, while the cutting lyrics set the table for a thoroughly emotional listening experience.
-
Jun 3, 2016The record’s finest moments relate to everyone’s lives, in one way or another. Whether it’s golden youth or present day regrets, there’s something to cling onto.
-
Jun 6, 2016Pleasant but forgettable-in-the-long term albums are, after all, a dime a dozen. But this does stand out as one of the best.
-
Jun 2, 2016Bass, horns, strings, organ and choir provide the backbone, and when Whitney allow themselves to kick it up a gear and really let rip, as on ‘Golden Days’ (with its cathartic “Na na na” outro) or the George Harrison-meets-The Band magnificence of ‘Dave’s Song’, they’re untouchable.
-
Jun 3, 2016Sure, literally speaking all of the songs off of Light Upon the Lake conjure up failure to maintain a relationship with a loved one, but how can you relate a new band’s debut record--and one that’s so so fully realized to the point of even having a mission statement in the Whitney, as a man, as a writing prompt and concept--with a break up? If anything, it’s the start of something new.
-
Jun 6, 2016Whitney might not reinvent anything, but they sound perfect right now, and it’s hard to argue with being in the right place at the right time.
-
Jun 3, 2016A big part of these songs’ appeal is the youth-bruised character in the lyrics.
-
Jun 10, 2016In addition to nostalgia, they also use the easy weapons of doing that juxtaposition thing of pairing cheery music with sad lyrics and vocals and putting the other single (a nice climbing keyboard line in that one) wisely as what would be the opener of the second side if this were the vinyl age; spacing out the good stuff instead of front-loading the record. The other songs aren’t bad, but their pleasures are pleasant at best.
-
Q MagazineJun 6, 2016Anyone who's ever loved a record by Midlake or the Fleet Foxes should investigate immediately. [#361, p.117]
-
Jun 2, 2016A better summertime album will be hard to find this year. You can expect to see Whitney's name on a lot of year-end lists and deservedly so.
-
Jun 2, 2016Those with a low tolerance for winsome male falsettos may wish to steer clear, but anyone who loves the strain of American pop that began when the Byrds started branching out in 1966 and 1967 should rush to hear this delightful confection.
-
Jun 2, 2016With just one track over four minutes and only ten cuts overall, Light Upon the Lake is the kind of record you could easily find yourself blazing through three or four times in a row without even realizing.
-
Jun 10, 2016Like the image its title evokes then, Light Upon The Lake is a transient pleasure--but a vivid one while it lasts.
-
UncutJun 2, 2016Songs such as "Golden Days" and "No Woman" combine the fragile longing of indie-pop with the superior songwriting smarts of classic early-70s rock, in a way that should reel in fans of Josh Rouse and Liam Hayes. [Jul 2016, p.82]
-
Jun 2, 2016It innocently rolls around some of the loveliest, sunniest country songs you're likely to hear all year. [May - Jun 2016, p.99]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 44 out of 48
-
Mixed: 2 out of 48
-
Negative: 2 out of 48
-
Jun 7, 2016
-
Nov 27, 2021