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From start to finish, the instrumentation and production on We Are Him is immaculate
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On We Are Him--Gira's sixth and arguably most engaging album as Angels of Light--he lands some of the best of those complete releases.
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Even in this mellowed state, Gira's still never going to be a majority taste, but Angels of Light come up with a thoroughly respectable and diversely arranged vehicles for his vision on We Are Him, traipsing through an array of interesting moods without diluting the leader's offbeat visions.
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Akron/Family provide consistent backing, but it's Gira's array of violins, "krautabilly" electric guitar, accordion, and choral vocals that turn the tunes inside out.
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Despite not being my personal favorite, the album may in fact be Gira’s most poignant statement to date, one that succinctly encapsulates Angels of Lights’ every driving thrust since "New Mother."
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The tenderfooted wandering of the We Are Him’s final third make it less compelling than its flagellating first half but have patience; Gira always gets there.
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It’s a choppy album, it never settles into any sort of rhythm, and the moments that stick, that haunt you for days after you’ve heard them, are few. It is, however, still a very, very good album by a wonderful artist who steadfastly refuses to go gentle into that good night.
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Gira's range of tone and emotion is given open pasture here, and We Are Him is one his strongest, most horrifically hypnotic works yet.
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Under The RadarThe results are staggering and more than worthy of all of the praise. [Summer 2007, p.72]
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MojoGira's seventh solo outing finds his sardonic-toned vocals little changed however, and lyrically, if he's not "walking through fire," he's asserting the "the scars still remain." So no change there. [Nov 2007, p.104]
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MagnetWe Are Him arguably surpasses his work with his old band merely by simplifying things a bit. [Fall 2007, p.90]
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We are Him is more varied in texture, more resolute in execution and, to the probable amusement of Gira’s long-term coterie, an altogether darker disc.
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The songwriting is simply the biggest flaw of We Are Him, and in an album so reliant upon the vocal performance, it's a flaw that's too hard to ignore.