Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 17
  3. Negative: 0 out of 17
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  1. Nov 21, 2012
    80
    It's a brilliant, mainstream indie rock album from a band who have for too long operated on the margins of, for want of a better word, the 'scene.'
  2. Uncut
    Oct 26, 2012
    80
    Prekop's lyrical ruminations on distance and direction never lag. [Dec 2012, p.76]
  3. Magnet
    Oct 26, 2012
    80
    [Runner] is something more akin to Eliot Smith, but airier, and with more synth. [No.92 p.58]
  4. Q Magazine
    Oct 23, 2012
    80
    Lurking beneath are the electronic pulses of post-rock and the occasional ripple of slip-slide jazz, ensuring that while Runner is approachable, it's always one step ahead. [Nov 2012, p.104]
  5. Oct 15, 2012
    80
    It's an album which succeeds by virtue of elegance, and which knows a hell of a lot without ever seeming overly knowing.
  6. Oct 4, 2012
    80
    Runner [is] an exceptional Sea and Cake record, and if it's not their best since their classic album, Nassau, it is at least the most surprising since then.
  7. Sep 21, 2012
    80
    The results are elegant and beautiful, as all Sea and Cake albums are, but also slightly experimental.
  8. Mojo
    Sep 19, 2012
    80
    Theirs remain an abstract, liminal brand of pop, with Prekop's vocals as delightfully gossamer, and his lyrics as intriguingly impressionistic as ever. [Oct 2012, p.88]
  9. Sep 18, 2012
    80
    The Sea & Cake could have been in danger of becoming an indie-band-by-numbers, but 'Runner' is performed with all the vigour and aplomb of fresh-faced youngsters and executed with the deftness of touch of grizzled old hands.
  10. Under The Radar
    Nov 30, 2012
    75
    Fans won't be disappointed and newbies may well be stunned. [Oct/Nov 2012, p.131]
  11. Sep 18, 2012
    72
    Runner shakes out as one of this band's most subtly varied albums, and it can be an immersive listening experience if you give yourself over to it.
  12. Nov 30, 2012
    70
    It is great to hear them testing out other feels without losing an ounce of the consistency that has made them to toast of Chicago for all these years.
  13. Sep 25, 2012
    70
    Runner is worth it. Aesthetically, it's one of the band's most synthetic albums, continuing along a path they started on near the turn of the century.
  14. Sep 21, 2012
    70
    Runner is The Sea and Cake's most unusual album, in spite of being so rhythmically conventional, and altogether gorgeous.
  15. Sep 21, 2012
    70
    The Sea and Cake's music is more about mood than narrative, as with the largely acoustic Harbor Bridges' gorgeous evocation of summer's end.
  16. Sep 20, 2012
    70
    This striving for variety, and the fact the Sea and Cake run with every idea regardless of how soon it tires, is also one of their charms.
  17. Sep 18, 2012
    70
    Runner signal a return to the "heritage" S&C sound, balancing motorik pulse and unbridled delicateness, regaining some of the spirit and intention that had begun to flag in the process.

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