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Natalie Merchant
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Natalie Merchant Image
Metascore
73

Generally favorable reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.2

Universal acclaim- based on 6 Ratings

  • Summary: The self-produced release for the former 10,000 Maniacs singer is her first album of original songs since 2001's Motherland.
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  • Record Label: Nonesuch
  • Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Contemporary Singer/Songwriter, Contemporary Pop/Rock
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Top Track

Giving Up Everything
Giving up everything, my hungry ghost of hopefulness. Giving up everything, not haunted by wanting this. Giving up everything, the fortune I was... See the rest of the song lyrics
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 12
  3. Negative: 0 out of 12
  1. The Telegraph (UK)
    May 5, 2014
    100
    Everything is quite extraordinary; an orchestral poem of spiritual surrender that offers up a gorgeously bleak depiction of “the whole magnificent emptiness”.
  2. Blurt Magazine
    May 7, 2014
    80
    While this isn’t an earth shattering album, it is a solid one which serves as a reminder of what a talent she can be when she decides to get in touch.
  3. Mojo
    May 15, 2014
    80
    An adult pleasure. [Jun 2014, p.90]
    All this publication's reviews
  4. Exclaim
    May 5, 2014
    70
    Merchant has offered us a challenging, often starkly beautiful, collection.
  5. Uncut
    May 5, 2014
    70
    The arrangements are reserved and understated throughout, gently cradling Merchant's strident but intimate voice. [May 2014, p.77]
    All this publication's reviews
  6. AllMusic
    May 5, 2014
    70
    Natalie Merchant is not a progression so much as a deepening and, as such, it offers a quiet comfort for anyone who has ever loved her music.
  7. Record Collector
    May 29, 2014
    40
    10,000 Maniacs fans may yearn for the simpler music of old but, sad to say, given the effort involved, uncommitted listeners will simply shrug their shoulders.

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User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. sanitycoaster
    Sep 27, 2014
    10
    Natalie never ceases to amaze me! The more I listen to Natalie's self-titled album, the more enamored I become with it! Truly inspiring,Natalie never ceases to amaze me! The more I listen to Natalie's self-titled album, the more enamored I become with it! Truly inspiring, Natalie has a voice like none other in the music industry today. She performs with such unwavering talent, I personally believe this to be Natalie's finest album to date (Right up there with the LYS compellation, of course.)!
    Not to impugn all of Natalie's other works, as with everything she writes, sings and performs is done to sheer imperfect perfection (I hope that made sense, no one is perfect :)
    I simply believe that if Natalie's self titled album was to be her "Swan Song" (Lord forbid!!!), then it would certainly be done so with the utmost class and elegance of an artist who's music will most certainly carry on in the rawest form of genuine human emotion and honesty of the treacherous and challenging world as we know it for generations to come.    … Expand

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