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Feb 7, 2023What's most impressive is there's not a moment wasted in these twelve satisfying tracks, beginning and ending the narrative with a contemplation that also achieves the difficult task of feeling complete.
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Feb 13, 2023It's an album that further solidifies his position as a genre-leading storyteller, and it will have you humming along as much as it'll have you looking over your shoulder.
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Mar 10, 2023Upon first listen, “Norm” is a gorgeously produced collection of short folk-fiction. When given closer attention, the album unfurls into an anthology of dark, interconnected tales of loss, unrequited love and casual brushes with the divine.
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Feb 13, 2023The sensation of incomprehension itself is part of the record’s charm. The music itself is suggestive, rapturous, mysterious, and mesmerizing. The lyrics set the mood. Each song works on its own. The connections between cuts may be vague, but they share an alluring magnetism.
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Feb 13, 2023There’s no sense of resolution by the end of the record. Its characters could be equally pitiful as they are decent. Still, Andy Shauf’s talent for playing god to these little dioramas is as consistent as ever.
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Feb 10, 2023Shauf clearly didn't want to repeat himself, and he hasn't, even though the soft suede of his voice still dominates the tracks, seeming even stronger when his characters are in emotional retreat. One might be tempted to play this story for laughs, and it's commendable this album feels straightforward and sincere, even at its least plausible and possibly blasphemous.
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UncutFeb 7, 2023What could have been merely clever becomes soulful and poignant thanks to Shauf's understated vocals, his eye for mundane details and flourishes. [Mar 2023, p.35]
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Feb 8, 2023The artist’s stories work as not-quite-parables, with no message tumbling through and pushing everything along, but certainly asking the listener to spend time with whatever part of themselves they see in the twists and turns. And even when it’s hard, Shauf’s music makes self-reflection a temptation too inviting to resist.
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Feb 14, 2023His eighth album, Norm, is his most meticulous and beguiling, straying from his semi-autobiographical past work to span three perspectives and tactfully downplaying its philosophical quandaries with his lushest arrangements to date.
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Feb 13, 2023The storytelling is tight and riveting as ever, each song serving the greater narrative in its unique way. The same can be said for the musical performances (all done by Shauf).
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Feb 14, 2023Norm plays with our emotions more than Wilds or The Neon Skyline did because Shauf’s writing from perspective of what could be considered a villain, and his impeccable storytelling takes liberties where others dare not.
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Feb 7, 2023Right from the start, it’s the attention to detail in the arrangements — what Frank Zappa used to describe as “eyebrows” — that brings Norm to vivid, radiant life. ... Regardless of how gorgeous it all sounds, sometimes the songwriting does feel a little wanting, as if Shauf has penned a decent verse and chorus, then run out of ideas about how to add another section to take the song to the next level. ... By keeping all the songs to a succinct few minutes, Shauf stymies their potential to evolve into longer, more complex pieces.
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MojoFeb 7, 2023What follows is a quietly substantive if still somewhat pallid, meditation on faith and death. [Mar 2023, p.92]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 5 out of 7
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Mixed: 1 out of 7
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Negative: 1 out of 7
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Mar 5, 2023Ill stop trowing trash to albums, i just vote 0 this because i want other albums at 1 so idc