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Jul 25, 2012Quarantine is the addictive soundtrack to some kind of science fiction nightmare.
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The WireJul 24, 2012It's pervaded by numbness, claustrophobia, pain intensified to the point of dissociation. [Jun 2012, p.49]
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MojoJul 19, 2012An extraordinary, multi-layered, attention-grabbing record. [Aug 2012, p.87]
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Jul 5, 2012If albums could have Nutrition Facts, Quarantine would lack the vitamins and minerals we normally associate with Laurel Halo's production, but it's hard to dislike the album entirely because, after all, she's still quite skillful at making her Metal Gear Solid-esque ambiences seize and enrapture us with their swirling, bubbling drones.
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Jun 25, 2012What ultimately hits hardest is the aesthetic singularity of everything here.
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Jun 21, 2012For those of us undeterred by Halo's vocal approach, Quarantine is an often breathtaking piece of emotive reverie that stands sonically as one of the year's more consistently inviting ambient LPs.
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Jun 21, 2012Brutal, violent and disturbing though it may be, its surreal hybrid of human and simulation has some strange beauty to it.
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Jun 12, 2012Halo's voice, pronounced in the mix, artfully mangled, purposely unperfect, reaching at unreachable notes, and occasionally beautiful, is far from a relief. Whether this is riveting or off-putting is for each listener to decide.
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Jun 7, 2012There's still an eerie distortion saturating Halo's vocals, as has become her trademark. But the prominence of her singing here is almost jarring, raw, practically emotive.
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Jun 7, 2012Her best and most cohesive work to date.
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Jun 6, 2012It's this theme of genuine imperfection that allows Quarantine to come off as an exposed, wounded masterwork.
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Jun 4, 2012With this record Laurel Halo has created a strong work that, while being notable and challenging for its unusual, compact combination of pop, ambience and musique concrète, is also immersive and enjoyable for this exact reason.
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Jun 4, 2012There's an alertness and sense of movement within these carefully crafted soundscapes.
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May 31, 2012The prettiness may seem surprising given the violence of the subject matter, but this is tempered by a growing sense of unease, and it grows in power with repeated listens.
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May 30, 2012The results are nothing short of magnificent, producing a set of tracks whose fizzing surfaces are always disturbed by some new action just beneath, where ridges of static ruffle and tumble over one another, and where harsh regions of higher density sluice violently into the foreground.
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May 30, 2012It's conflicted, ambivalent, complex.
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May 30, 2012What takes shape is a solid, unflinching artistic statement, an effort at moments challenging and bizarre, and at others dreamy and utterly inviting.
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May 30, 2012Here is an album that's neither forgettable nor empty.
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May 30, 2012Quarantine is less concerned with the tropes of olde world dance music, more fixated on gloopy post-club ambience.
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May 30, 2012It ends up being a mixed bag of give and take, but as an assault on all senses it always manages to succeed.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 19 out of 20
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Mixed: 1 out of 20
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Negative: 0 out of 20
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Dec 27, 2013
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Jul 7, 2013