Not Real
by Stealing Sheep
  • Record Label: Heavenly
  • Release Date: Apr 21, 2015
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 14 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
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  1. Mojo
    Apr 21, 2015
    80
    Here technology is merely a vessel for a sound that remains pastoral and beguiling. Truly, a class act. [May 2015, p.95]
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  2. AllMusic
    Apr 14, 2015
    80
    Despite their best efforts to thwart it, Stealing Sheep's intoxicating otherworldliness ultimately wins out.
  3. musicOMH.com
    Apr 13, 2015
    80
    An album that’s more mature and focussed than Stealing Sheep’s debut, harnessing all of their interesting quirks within a showcase of excellent songwriting.
  5. The Guardian
    Apr 9, 2015
    80
    A lot of existential questions are asked, but few answers are given, which only adds to the whirring charm of this curious music.
  6. New Musical Express (NME)
    Apr 7, 2015
    80
    The harmonies are still present, but where once they aimed for a weirdy Wicker Man feel, now they combine forces in stirring new ways.
  7. The Quietus
    Apr 7, 2015
    80
    It's full of memorable lines and nagging hooks, but also the sense of something ungraspable, resistant to easy interpretation.
  8. The 405
    Apr 24, 2015
    75
    Their efforts were actualised in a catchy album that makes you want to dig deeper and discover what they are trying to say lyrically and musically.
  9. Magnet
    Apr 15, 2015
    70
    Stealing Sheep could have easily made another weird art album, and it would have been great; instead, it made a weird pop album, and it's a bold step into a bigger world. [No. 119, p.61]
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  10. Clash Music
    Apr 14, 2015
    70
    Not Real proves a fun set--but whilst you can't help but admire Stealing Sheep for evolving their sound, with a few track tweaks it could have been an evolution which went so much further.
  11. Uncut
    Apr 7, 2015
    70
    They pull off shifts in mood and tone with routine aplomb. [May 2015, p.83]
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  12. The Line of Best Fit
    Apr 7, 2015
    70
    Consistently intriguing and occasionally glorious, Not Real feels like a genuine step forward.
  13. Record Collector
    Apr 24, 2015
    60
    Touchstones are many and include Delia Derbyshire (last year they collaborated with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop on an original score to the 70s sci-fi film Le Planete Sauvage) Can, Grace Jones, Moondog, John Carpenter and Grayson Perry’s pop folk art. But, once again, their sound is their own.
  14. Q Magazine
    Apr 7, 2015
    60
    They've seemingly ditched their Wicker Man aesthetic for something altogether more contemporary, bringing in programmed with all the glitzy sheen of, in fact, an '80s revival. [May 2015, p.112]
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  15. Drowned In Sound
    Apr 14, 2015
    40
    Too much of Not Real is nondescript and dull.

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