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Barnes has created some utterly brilliant compositions, captured a perfect blend of melodic energy and sincerity while never sacrificing catchiness, and has used both achievements to create one of this year’s most cathartically fun albums.
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The relentless sweetness may be off-putting to some... but it'll be difficult for all but the most jaded listeners to avoid being charmed by Of Montreal's appealing melodies and whimsical innocence-recaptured lyrics.
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The Sunlandic Twins is a dizzying, exhilarating, and almost endlessly fun ride, breezy almost to a fault, romantic and lighthearted.
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Part of what makes Of Montreal notable is the quantity of things Barnes does impeccably.
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On the whole, The Sunlandic Twins makes almost everything else today seem diluted and stale.
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Occasionally masterful, frequently evocative, and consistently lovely.
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Though not perfect, it's unlikely 2005 will see many records eclipsing The Sunlandic Twins.
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FilterImagine if !!! were to trim down the intense jams and adopt light vocal harmonies a la the Shins. [#15, p.95]
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Alternative PressThe Sunlandic Twins feels like a surprise party that could make a broken-hearted birthday boy smile. [May 2005, p.124]
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Under The RadarIf Brian Wilson made a dance-pop album, it would sound like this. [#9]
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UrbTerse bass and faux-African rhythms that recall [the Talking Heads]. [May 2005, p.93]
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Sunlandic Twins is an album to leave playing while you're going about your daily business. Then see how quickly you discover its 13 tracks burrowing so deeply into your skull that it's as though you'd lived with its jerking, burbling, and never less than transcendental swirlings for ever.
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For all its delectable dance tracks, infused with Barnes’ latest influences of Afrobeat, disco and electronic music, The Sunlandic Twins still offers thoughtful lyrics and emotionally heady songs.
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New Musical Express (NME)An elegiac, neo-psychedelic collection of labyrinthine naive melodies that's the schizophrenic lovechild of Four Tet and The Magnetic Fields. [4 Jun 2005, p.58]
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Some might write off this album as a collection of novelty work à la Ween, but there's more going on here than being goofy for goofiness' sake.
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The second half lacks the spirited kick of the first.
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While the second half of the album is a miscue -- eschewing the sunny innocence that makes his music so likeable -- I know what'll be in my CD player all spring.
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Barnes' bright-eyed, bushy-tailed vocals are at times trying, but there is substance and craft behind the unrelentingly catchy ditties.
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Q MagazineA trip worth taking. [Jun 2005, p.116]
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Barnes seems to draw from a bottomless well of creativity, and is capable of the most sublimely unexpected melodic phrasing. At the same time, he can come off as a little too intellectual for his own good.
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Mojo[A] dazzling selection of pop songs. [Aug 2005, p.96]
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Entertainment WeeklyMost of Twins seems too keenly fascinated by its own intelligence. [15 Apr 2005, p.77]
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Missing Satanic Panic's multidimensionality, the album feels like the hollowed-out shell of something great.
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BlenderWhen it works, his songs are intoxicating pop nuggets... But meandering instrumental interludes and clunky song titles are low on wink, high on wank. [May 2005, p.122]
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UncutFor all this sonic broad-mindedness, the Twins' ideas are piled on a lightweight core, and good luck making sense of the lyrics. [Jul 2005, p.104]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 58 out of 62
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Mixed: 0 out of 62
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Negative: 4 out of 62
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EdgarHMay 2, 2007Awesome!
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Jan 14, 2022
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FrankDApr 23, 2007Another solid effort by Kevin Barnes and Company. Great, great album.