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The Mess We Made
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The Mess We Made Image
Metascore
82

Universal acclaim - based on 11 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 4 Ratings

  • Summary: Recording under his own name for the first time rather than his usual Third Eye Foundation (definitely not to be confused with Third Eye Blind), Bristol, England's Matt Elliott returns with a dark, moody collection of lo-fi, sample-based electronica.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. Alternative Press
    100
    Lound insanity is sexy; quiet insanity is sexier. [Sep 2003, p.118]
    All this publication's reviews
  2. Flak Magazine
    90
    A nuanced, ever-shifting masterwork that reveals its biggest rewards to the listener who's got 53 minutes to experience the whole thing, start to finish, and who's willing to do this several times.
  3. PopMatters
    80
    This record expects -- nay, demands -- multiple exposures. Its hidden delights and traps are equally patient.
  4. Stylus Magazine
    78
    Anyone that expects the pulsating You Guys Kill Me would be better off sitting this one out, but Elliot has pulled off a tricky feat here: stripping down his sound to more orthodox "rock" instrumentation, without losing his edge.
  5. Pitchfork
    76
    Disturbing, complicated, and enthrallingly strange, The Mess We Made requires patience, and, ideally, an already established taste for Elliott's previous ambient output.
  6. Uncut
    70
    An LP of spooked delicacy and wheezy, wayward charm. [Jun 2003, p.104]
    All this publication's reviews
  7. The Wire
    70
    Delicacy replaces density here, but his capacity to unnerve remains on these sedately mournful chamber pieces. [#231, p.74]
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See all 11 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. AntonisL
    May 31, 2003
    10
    Let's get one thing straight...this isn't for guys who just can't stand melancholy. This is pure desperation in its most Let's get one thing straight...this isn't for guys who just can't stand melancholy. This is pure desperation in its most original and authentic morpheme. Matt Elliott is a genious...he proved that countless times though The Third Eye Foundation's albums and he proves it once again. Melodic soundscapes for a murky night. Like the soundtrack for the death of a just new-born child. Grief and desperation in every word and note, but weirdly in the end what is left behind is the flavor of a new travel/life/journey that begins on the ashes of the loss. Through all this pain Matt Elliton manages to instil you scrapings of optimism. If someone of you has seen the french film "The City Of The Lost Children", I'm sure he'll realize what I'm talking about here. The "Mess We Made" seems like it has immersed its musical soul in the dark canals of that city. "Songs" like "The Sinking Ship Song" and "The Dog Beneath The Skin" are simply some of the best you'll listen to this year and surely will leave you with a bitter feeling and some tears dropping from your cold memories. I'm astonished...an example from "The Sinking Ship Song"'s lyrics: "Though the wind may change This face still stays the same It just brings more rain Just to soak us But this time will pass Things like this never last So let's leave this farce Way behind us And we've all got to die So in the meantime let's leave Scream your name while you've still got breath Let's raise a glass to life and drink away the memories of those we have lost to death..." Just do yourself a favor and get this asap.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

63
#63 Best Album of 2003

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