• Record Label: Nonesuch
  • Release Date: Jun 9, 2009
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 18
  2. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. Whether soft or loud, these 12 songs are exquisite.
  2. There's a lot of ground covered here, of course, yet the band never loses sight of its destination, and those who can keep up are in for a tuneful journey.
  3. Somehow, though, it soars, the title track especially.
  4. Oh My God, Charlie Darwin is a lovely self-release in a beautiful homemade sleeve from a group who can really play.
  5. These are magical songs laden with imagery and poignancy.
  6. 80
    The album closes with a reprise of 'To Ohio'--possibly superfluous given the perfection of the earlier version, but the only marginal misjudgement on an otherwise largely faultless album.
  7. Mojo
    80
    Oh My God, Charlie Darwin may well be the second best cabin-in-winter indie album ever made. [Jul 2009, p.96]
  8. Just as Waits has the power to infuse you with familiarity with the return of a chord, so do the songs of Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, like an embroidered pillow on an old porch that says ‘home sweet home’.
  9. As they expose the fragility of love and ultimately humanity, and mourn evolution's victims, they pitch themselves somewhere between Neil Young's heart-rending "Needle And The Damage Done" and a hard-bitten Dylan going electric, all the while retracing traditional folk's footsteps with a wonderfully homespun flourish.
  10. Q Magazine
    80
    They're intriguingly ambivalent, but the conundrums are so beautifully and hauntingly put, you'll want to revisit them. [Jul 2009, p.125]
  11. Re-mastered and re-sequenced from the album's initial September 2008 release, Oh My God flawlessly balances heartfelt warbles with gritty countryside wails.
  12. The Low Anthem finds the balance of apocalypse and subtlety sought by the Avett or Felice Brothers but never wrangled so effectively.
  13. A peek at the liner notes for Oh My God, Charlie Darwin—which solemnly states that the album was recorded “in the solace of a Block Island winter”--suggests that Rhode Island’s The Low Anthem is angling to be this year’s Bon Iver. The music itself does nothing to dispel the notion.
  14. Filter
    74
    As Anthem's zithers, pump organs, oil drums, and tibetan singing bowls thrum like summer insects, scientists and spiritualist alike can't help but bow to these haunting paeans to America's heartland. [Summer 2009, p.100]
  15. The Low Anthem still needs to devise its own uptempo approach. But the quieter the music gets, in an elegy like 'To Ohio' or a conditional reassurance like '(Don’t) Tremble,' the more its music inhabits its own otherworldly place, where ghosts and angels hover just out of view.
  16. A welcome addition to the intricate patchwork quilt of the new wave of Americana.
User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 15 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 15
  3. Negative: 1 out of 15
  1. Mar 27, 2012
    8
    Oh My God is this a Bob Dylan record?! A really good album, wears the influence of Electric Dylan clearly on the sleeve but there is also aOh My God is this a Bob Dylan record?! A really good album, wears the influence of Electric Dylan clearly on the sleeve but there is also a touch of Tom Waits in there as well. If your into folk and are a fan of the aforementioned artists then you will really enjoy this one. It's not the most original record but the song writing is of a very high level lyrically and musically. Well worth investing your time and money in this one. Full Review »
  2. Sep 29, 2011
    10
    I own about 6,000 albums overall and this is one of my all time favs ever. Ben Knox Miller is a genius as are the others in this band. TheyI own about 6,000 albums overall and this is one of my all time favs ever. Ben Knox Miller is a genius as are the others in this band. They are uber talented and everyone should know them and listen to them. They are truely a beacon in the night of an otherwise trashy music industry. Too bad shrimp has no clue who these guys are for they are not the Killers or Coldplay. Full Review »
  3. MS
    Aug 13, 2009
    7
    Schizophrenic in its mellowness and straight out country guitar-outs. Probably the second best Neil Young album you'll hear this year.