- Record Label: Arena Rock
- Release Date: Sep 29, 2009
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
There is an unassuming brilliance to much that they do and, as ever, We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like A River is a-bristle with finely-tooled detai.
-
Such is Vlautin’s talent as a storyteller, conveying everything about his disparate cast of punch-drunk, liquor-soused losers with just a handful of sparse adjectives, that moments like this manage to feel genuinely gut-wrenching without ever coming across as remotely emo: he writes harrowing documentaries, not bed-wetting poetry.
-
I don’t care who you are, come up with an album title like that and you get a free pass.
-
So in summary if you are looking for an album that could almost double up as an engrossing series of short stories, with tales from the darker side of life and love, then you could certainly do worse than dip into this album.
-
A sustained masterpiece is unlikely. Instead, this is a record with only flashes of brilliance, but what flashes they are.