by
Jason Isbell
- Record Label: Southeastern Records
- Release Date: Jul 17, 2015
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Jul 14, 2015Isbell isn't your average songwriter, and on Something More Than Free, there's a pretty strong argument to be made that he's outplaying anyone else in the game right now.
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Jul 20, 2015Southeastern was a triumph from a talented songwriter and vocalist who stepped up to a new level; Something More Than Free shows Jason Isbell knows he just got there, and is still making use of that hard-won knowledge--it confirms his status as a major artist.
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Jul 10, 2015Isbell revisits favorite themes with powerful results.
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Aug 6, 2015Something More Than Free offers further proof of Jason Isbell's preeminent acuity.
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Jul 24, 2015The achingly good Something More Than Free, captures the mix of excitement and fear that comes when the sun rises on a new day.
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Sep 14, 2015Something More Than Free is like a novel set to music, each of its 11 songs a separate chapter that, when absorbed in full, leave you with the same kind of psychic shift a good book sets into motion.
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Jul 16, 2015Quieter but equally captivating.
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Jul 7, 2015Navigating between crestfallen country ballads and rollicking rockers, Something More Than Free showcases Isbell’s musical diversity without sacrificing a pinch of lyrical precision.
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Jul 14, 2015It may not be all pretty, but Something More Than Free is as real as it gets.
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Jul 17, 2015His latest sounds happier, and it’s still steeped in the Southern mythology that’s his forte.
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Jul 15, 2015Still walking the high wire, with Something More Than Free, Jason Isbell continues his streak of genre-defining masterworks.
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MojoJul 7, 2015Something More Than Free is as close as he's yet come [to a classic album]. [Aug 2015, p.92]
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Jul 16, 2015A couple of songs, like How To Forget, are well written but not quite interesting enough musically. Still, this album proves that Isbell is still one of the best songwriters in his genre.
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Jul 14, 2015Isbell’s increasing skill as a storyteller, and the natural affinity he has for melody, combine to make Something More Than Free a masterful piece of work.
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Jul 13, 2015What Something More Than Free does best is confirm that Isbell is a rare talent, one who doesn’t need a major life event to inspire him to make great music.
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Jul 17, 2015This time around, he trades in that album's personal tales of crisis and redemption for a more nuanced, wide-angled form of storytelling, packed to bursting with evocative specifics.
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Jul 8, 2015Isbell's follow-up, Something More Than Free, retains Southeastern's intimate acoustic-based feel and heavyhearted lyrical matter, but it's even more smooth-edged and lacks the emotional gut-punches of its predecessor.
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Jul 17, 2015Its stakes are a little lower, and he’s no longer revealing grand truths about life, but documenting once-dire realities from a rosier lens is still a worthwhile undertaking.
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Jul 17, 2015Isbell’s lyrics on Southeastern sharpened to a poignancy that he’d mostly hinted at before, and though Something More Than Free may not repeat Isbell’s album-of-the-year accolades, it continues the magic of that breakthrough LP.
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Jul 14, 2015This latest collection pairs Isbell’s keen ear for catchy melodies with fuller, bouncier arrangements and more optimistic subject matter. The result is a record spattered with songs capable of bridging the gap between “alt” and accessible.
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Jul 15, 2015The best of them glow with bittersweet empathy.
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Jan 14, 2016Happily, the words are wonderful and Something More Than Free is an album that grows and grows on you. Producer Dave Cobb is in fine action again and gets the best from the settings behind Isbell's effecting voice. Some of the songs are simply splendid.
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UncutJul 7, 2015Something More Than Free finds Isbell sounding surer of himself, as a songwriter and a man. [Aug 2015, p.79]
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Jul 31, 2015At once profoundly intimate and universally true, these songs of hardship, love, and dignity resonate with the man's soul.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 33 out of 39
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Mixed: 3 out of 39
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Negative: 3 out of 39
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Jul 19, 2015
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Jul 18, 2015
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Aug 20, 2016