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The Broken String Image
Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 15 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.7

Universal acclaim- based on 9 Ratings

  • Summary: After releasing an EP every month for a year in 2006, the Brooklyn-based band returns with a full-length album.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 15
  2. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. It never feels like those doing the picking had to lower the standards or tack things on to fill out a weak selection, and like a greatest hits album from any band worth its salt, the biggest criticism to be found here is the failure to include certain songs.
  2. Although the new parts of their "new" album aren't the best, the band certainly deserves some praise and attention for the marathon of 2006. The Broken String will be noticed by at least a few people.
  3. It really is great, striding confidently from one high point to the next, with expansive yet homemade-sounding folk-rock songs.
  4. The result bounces all over the place, from zippy new-wave rave-ups to tinkly twee-pop lullabies to handsome folk-rock jams with trippy guitar sounds.
  5. Perhaps the biggest draw of the album--its sheer fragility and unlikeliness, amidst throngs of over-arranged pseudo-chamber indie records.
  6. The Broken String ups the ante considerably, reworking ten songs from the EP cycle and two new cuts into lustrous indie pop notable for its versatility, clever lyrics, and offbeat instrumentation.
  7. Longer listeners will be impressed with the band’s evolution but will inevitably be let down with the lack of charm in these new recordings as opposed to their looser demo cuts.

See all 15 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. PaulF
    Aug 15, 2007
    10
    I love this band. Great lyrics, catchy hooks not a filler track on the album.
  2. christianP
    Aug 5, 2007
    7
    The majority of this album is stunning and exciting. There are just a few too many lulls. Very promising. It seems to me that Bishop Allen The majority of this album is stunning and exciting. There are just a few too many lulls. Very promising. It seems to me that Bishop Allen and Voxtrot will be duking it out for years to come. Expand