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It's quite a treat to hear the duo create such refreshingly original music with rock's "standard" instruments.
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Arguably their best record yet, a logical and accessible realization of a sound they've been developing for more than six years.
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While Summer in Abaddon features Pinbackās by now trademarked sound and cryptic lyrics with a few nice developments, it falls victim to a sort of malaise of consistently indistinguishable mid-tempo rockers on the second half of an album that starts very strongly.
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Summer in Abaddon delivers an all-inclusive perfection that sets it apart from any other record this year.
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A triumph of intense weirdness and cosy warmth.
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Falls a few yards short of essential listening.
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Alternative PressSounds like the updated fourth side of Built To Spill's Perfect From Now On. [Nov 2004, p.142]
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Combining dramatic, ethereal pop vocals with moody guitar and piano theatrics, Summer in Abaddon recalls a tighter, smoothed-out Built to Spill, or maybe a Dismemberment Plan reunion.
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FilterPinback is particularly good at harnessing a laid-back vibe that ultimately soothes much more than it disappoints. [#12, p.101]
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Entertainment WeeklyThese catchy songs are so sonically enthralling, you could call them heavenly. [15 Oct 2004, p.72]
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Pinback is among a select group of indie rock bands who excel at making incredibly nuanced pop music full of graceful layers the intrepid listener can delight in sorting out.
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New Musical Express (NME)The stuff of jagged, ornate artistes living in a weird pop monsterland with defiantly anti-wacky lyrics. [13 Nov 2004, p.57]
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Mojo[Pinback's] blend of warm and wistful is almost impossible to resist. [Jan 2005, p.104]
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Summer in Abaddon is an album of small, but hardly insignificant pleasures, and it may be Pinback's finest work yet.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 29 out of 32
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Mixed: 0 out of 32
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Negative: 3 out of 32
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Jul 15, 2023
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Nov 13, 2020an absolutely perfect and beautiful album from start to finish, just buy it you won't be disappointed, 10/10 doesn't seem quite high enough
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Oct 11, 2011