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Stay Alive Image
Metascore
73

Generally favorable reviews - based on 6 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: The surprise solo release from the Against Me! singer was recorded over four days with Steve Albini.
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 6
  2. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. 80
    Each song a little burst (nothing over 2:30), the rough ’n’ ready charm to Stay Alive is where it shines like a diamond plucked from the depths of blackened coal. It feels like Grace is in the room, life unfurling from her mind and straight into music.
  2. Oct 2, 2020
    80
    Each is very different, but they’re connected by a sense of the time and space they were crafted in. It’s a collection of postcards from the edge that we’ve all been walking and one that’s utterly engaging.
  3. Oct 2, 2020
    80
    Although previous work has never shied away from her individual experience, here Laura elevates her lyricism to new heights.
  4. Oct 2, 2020
    70
    ‘Stay Alive’ has a sense of quiet intensity running across its 13 tracks, material that uses points of inspiration gathered across the previous two year international tour. There’s a real vitality to the work, from the bare bones recording style so evocative of Albini’s work through to Laura’s powerful, trenchant vocals, erupting out of the speakers.
  5. Oct 20, 2020
    68
    Once the allure of hearing Grace so stripped down wears off, the record begins to sound like what it is: glorified demos for an Against Me! album we'll never get to hear. Even at its most vital, Stay Alive never escapes the sense that the pandemic has one again cheated us out of something better.
  6. Oct 19, 2020
    60
    The desperation in her voice is accentuated by her close-fisted strums on (usually) an acoustic guitar, a combination that underscores how this is music made of and for isolation.
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