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Aug 29, 2016Twenty-five years in, how well these two sides of a sung coin fit together and complement each other remains remarkable.
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Feb 5, 2016Fortunately, the music and, above all, the voices of the two singers fight through the darkness. The voices complement, converse and contradict, like sisters finishing or amplifying each other's sentences.
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Mar 2, 2016The tales they tell are, while gruesome, well told. And they’ve never sounded better; not only has the time off done no damage to their brash, south-of-the-Ohio harmonies, but the band has taken on the challenge of sounding bigger than ever before and come out triumphant.
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UncutFeb 5, 2016Haunting songs rooted in old-time country, Southern Gothic and humming electric ambience. [Mar 2016, p.72]
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Feb 5, 2016The songs on Scheherazade are original, though richly informed by traditional Americana. Most of them sound like they could be from any time in the last 80 years.
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Feb 5, 2016Scheherazade isn't exactly the Feel Good Album of 2016, but being lost and forsaken with Freakwater is a more satisfying experience than feeling perky with most other acts, and Scheherazade is a brilliant reminder of what Catherine Irwin and Janet Beveridge Bean do so strikingly well.
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Feb 5, 2016Longtime fans who have patiently waited for this resurgence will be thrilled with results that gently tug at the boundaries of their established sound. But even listeners new to the Freakwater experience can start here and work backwards through a rich catalog dedicated to the darker roots of Americana.
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Feb 5, 2016There’s something invigorating about hearing two alt-country veterans take apart their tried-and-true sound and reassemble it slightly askew, and Scheherazade is not only their most modern-sounding record; it might be their best since Old Paint.
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Mar 7, 2016Overall Scheherazade is a masterful step forward for Freakwater with an eye on its influences and history. Its songs grapple with duality, with a balance between muddy, dirty roots music and clear, split open beauty, and the album balances itself so well in that regard.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 2 out of 3
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Mixed: 0 out of 3
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Negative: 1 out of 3
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Feb 15, 2016
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Jul 13, 2017