- Record Label: Accidental
- Release Date: Mar 29, 2019
Buy Now
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
PopMattersMar 26, 2019It's refreshing to hear such an intelligent, thought-provoking and political album as this. The Matthew Herbert Great Britain and Gibraltar European Union Membership Referendum Big Band are to be applauded for making an album that really could only have been made by Europeans, in Europe.
-
MojoMar 26, 2019The State Between Us offers a subtle, multi-layered but potent riposte to latter-day jingoism, the spirit of compassionate inclusion made manifest or woven implicitly into the eclectic sonic narrative. [May 2019, p.95]
-
Apr 2, 2019At two hours long, The State Between Us ought to waver in focus or intensity, but Herbert has never sounded more at home. Safe in the knowledge that most British people, for better or worse, can’t help but engage with the subject, he taps into a small, honest hope that would be inexplicable as a thinkpiece.
-
UncutMar 26, 2019Herbert enlisted more than 1000 extras to stitch together this patchwork of mournful classical music, keening choirs and parpy Brit-jazz. [Apr 2019, p.31]
-
Mar 29, 2019The State Between Us does, at times, attain a depth of its own, particularly when it's dealing in the sadness of separation Brexit engenders in roughly half of the population. But at other points it just seems to be saying, "Ooh, aren't we quirky?!"
-
Q MagazineMar 26, 2019It's difficult to sit through, yes, but that could well be Herbert's smartest reflection of the times. [May 2019, p.112]
-
Mar 26, 2019The State Between Us has some brilliant moments, but those moments are too stretched out: many of the tracks could have been half their length and been equally effective, and some could have been cut altogether for not holding together as pieces of music. However, even at its lowest ebbs it retains some intrigue from its novelty, and the sheer ambition of the album is not to be faulted.
-
Mar 29, 2019With too many dirge-like instrumentals, the album is overlong, under-focused and, like the Brexit process, hard work.
Awards & Rankings
There are no user reviews yet.