- Record Label: Ninja Tune
- Release Date: Nov 1, 2019
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Nov 1, 2019The album marks a significant advance for A Winged Victory…, in accepting the challenge of unorthodox inspiration, and doing musical justice to it in highly convincing fashion.
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Nov 1, 2019The Undivided Five is slow, meandering and intelligent. ... A Winged Victory for the Sullen produce breath-taking works of sumptuous beauty which will no doubt bore the shit out of those who are not equipped with the patience, cultural competence and time to delve into the work properly. That sounds wildly elitist but so be it.
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Dec 17, 2019The Undivided Five is a well-informed piece of music that draws out discreet and poignant sentiments with each listen. Comprised of exquisitely seductive music shaped around the pleasant harmonic perfect fifth, the tracks on The Undivided Five provide countless hours of entertainment; constantly edging us closer to experiencing a timeless mind.
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UncutNov 14, 2019If its pace is funeral, though, its mood is elevating. [Jan 2020, p.31]
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Nov 11, 2019The Undivided Five is an often breathtaking album full of subtlety. Open any door, and there is a deftly constructed melody waiting behind it, ready to wrap you in its arms. Each track captures the sound of two exceptional musicians drawing in deep musical breaths and then exhaling something of lasting ethereal beauty.
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Nov 6, 2019The simplicity of the music here makes it a perfect entry-point for ambient fans who got into the genre through Max Richter‘s Sleep playlist. But it also makes it a perfect moving-on moment in the band’s career.
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MojoNov 1, 2019Closer listens reveal small universes of movement, tension and suspense pulsing just beneath the surface. [Dec 2019, p.88]
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Q MagazineNov 1, 2019Headphones and a quiet room are essential for capturing the full depth, but the payoff is a sound-world of uncanny resonance. [Dec 2019, p.106]
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Jan 7, 2020Each track is its own study in loneliness, yet each is in communication with the others, like spirit mediums.
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Nov 1, 2019This is anything but bombastic, and there's much greater attention paid to intricacies and subtle details than before. The arrangements consist of calm, patient pianos, gently swelling strings, and deftly integrated modular synthesizers, which help the pieces glow and vibrate. It's a vast, involved recording, but it doesn't bowl the listener over with heavy-handed sentimentality. Nevertheless, if certain pieces catch you at the right moment, they can be tear-jerkers.