Untogether
- Blue Hawaii
- Band Name: Blue Hawaii
- Record Label: Arbutus Records
- Release Date: Mar 5, 2013
- Critic Score
- Most active
- Publication
- Most clicked
-
Mar 26, 201350There are moments on Untogether where the music comes close to the sensuality that it frequently hints at, but it’s so caught up in embracing separation that it pushes out anything resembling redemption.
-
Mar 22, 201380The question of whether BRAIDS will return or not melts away in this deeply personal insight into Blue Hawaii's emotional and physical connections with one another.
-
Mar 22, 201385It’s not an album that immediately reveals itself, but when it lets you in it’s hard to find your way out.
-
Mar 13, 201370It’s the kind of album that sounds best listened to solo.
-
Mar 11, 201390The result is a record that's sensually stark, with not one extraneous moment marking its naked contours.
-
Mar 7, 201370Untogether is a well executed record, but not a stunning one.
-
Mar 6, 201380Put intellectual conceits aside and Untogether’s dense, throbbing undercurrent, a soundtrack to some alternative dancefloor, proves alluring.
-
Mar 6, 201350Perhaps what is most obvious is that Untogether may have benefited from Blue Hawaii turning it up just a notch or two.
-
Mar 5, 201370The brooding album is one for self-reflection on those winter nights when you want to be alone with your thoughts. This is great in its own right, but for the next album, the group might want to let a little more light in as well.
-
Mar 5, 201360Untogether does manage to lose its grip on your attention, at times, falling back on a bit of redundancy, but when it takes hold, it grabs you by the ears and fills them with a wistfulness that haunts you for days.
-
Mar 4, 201367It is intensely personal, tangled in the sentiments that privately plague each of us. Untogether is meant for those cold, murky nights in which we feel completely and utterly alone.
-
Mar 4, 201380Fluid and at times utterly beautiful, few will grow tired of these songs living in their headphones.
-
Mar 4, 201371The problem with Untogether is that that Blue Hawaii occasionally get carried away with emphasizing and embracing disjointedness.
-
Feb 14, 201380Their name may reference a 52-year-old Elvis Presley musical, but Blue Hawaii are poised to have a lot of people talking about them right now.
-
Feb 12, 201340A little less austerity, however, might have made it easier to warm to the experience as a whole. [Mar 2013, p.94]
-
Feb 12, 201370Blue Hawaii are more about atmosphere than impact, with the production clearly influenced by Cowan's time in Germany studying at the university if Kompakt. [Mar 2013, p.68]
-
Feb 12, 201360At times the songs are as fragile as fog, and when the vocal tricks of "Daisy" and "Nightskies" become a but much it's like a mouthful of too-sweet candy lasting linger than expected. [Jan-Feb 2013, p.86]
-
Feb 12, 201380This ultimately is Untogether’s crowning victory: despite being mapped by its lack of psychological surroundings, this firmly inward-looking record transports you head-first to Blue Hawaii’s special place, a serene vista where alien syllabic whimsy feels genuinely spiritual, and fuck-giving is most strictly forbidden.
-
Feb 12, 201360While Untogether is immaculately put together, it does take a while to cross over and connect with you.
-
Feb 12, 201380Untogether's aloof beauty comes as something of a surprise given how free-flowing and whimsical Blooming Summer was, but while this change takes some getting used to, it's an impressive debut from a group that has taken the time--and space--to refine and develop its sound.