Buy Now
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Apr 22, 2011So yeah, this record is a downer. But there's rare beauty in such darkness, too-- just look at forebears like Leonard Cohen, Elliott Smith, and Nick Drake. Or even Edgar Allan Poe. Because, along with its mopiness, WIT'S END is creepy as hell.
-
May 6, 2011The core of his sadness may still be a mystery to me, but his monument to it, in all its eccentricity, is by far the hardest thing to ignore that he's done yet.
-
Sep 6, 2011All of Cass McCombs' deliberate ambiguities add up to a beguiling character worth shouting about, even if he's not willing to do it himself. Give this album a spin and join its gently strident fan base.
-
MojoMay 17, 2011Far from the title's implied despair, Wit's End sounds more like home, sweet home. [May 2011, p.111]
-
Q MagazineMay 17, 2011Hard to get a handle, but easy to love. [May 2011, p.119]
-
Apr 29, 2011If it doesn't put you to sleep, WIT'S END provides a rich and empathetic companion to loneliness.
-
Apr 28, 2011McCombs is making music as if his soul depended on it. I'd listen to the sound of that struggle any day.
-
Apr 26, 2011Wit's End stands to lose a lot by being judged on a song-by-song basis: there are standout moments, courtesy of ingenious arrangements and lovely melodies, but the album's shadowy guiding principle remains in my mind long after listening.
-
Apr 18, 2011It will be intriguing to see where Cass McCombs goes next. A little more light and shade wouldn't go amiss, yet even his dark side is eminently loveable.
-
Apr 18, 2011Wit's End is even more hushed and sluggish than 2009's Catacombs, leaving lighter Dylanesque fare for depressive Leonard Cohen depths.
-
Apr 18, 2011The meandering phrasing alongside the slew of instruments all work together incredibly well, resulting in an album that certainly is no soundtrack to a sunny day but is perfectly suited to a contemplative night alone.
-
May 16, 2011The preambular Wit's End (hopefully he hasn't reached his) primes McCombs for the '10s with piano lamentations marking another well-paced (albeit drowsier) long-player.
-
Apr 26, 2011Wit's End leans a little too heavily on dark-hearted dirges-most songs extend beyond the five-minute mark, and feel much longer-but McCombs allows occasional flickers of light to peek into the blackness, and they seem to shine all the brighter.
-
May 2, 2011He knows his 1970s AM-radio rock ballads, his English pastoral folk.
-
May 2, 2011It will make you work to get there with it, maybe more than you want to at times, but you can discover quite a bit while allowing yourself to get lost like this.
-
Apr 21, 2011No prizes for guessing who's been reading Guy Debord then, but it's these touches as well as his reverb-laden sound that makes him vaguely modern, unlike some folk artists who'd be happier pretending the 20th century never even happened.
-
Apr 26, 2011McCombs would be better served rediscovering wit, rather than abandoning it, thus leaving the listener feeling abandoned as well. But, again, I guess that is the point.
-
Apr 29, 2011We get to peer deep into McCombs's mind, but with the benefit of coming up for air once the record ends.
-
Jul 21, 2011Despite the album title, there's an undercurrent of humour in these songs of loneliness, betrayal and death.
-
UncutApr 21, 2011Wit's end is so sparse and downbeat that it occasionally verges on the drab. [May 2011, p.91]
-
Apr 18, 2011[An] odd, somewhat bewildering, and perhaps hopefully transitional effort.
-
May 12, 2011As it lilts and sways, you can't help but wish that McCombs would just snap out of it.
-
Apr 29, 2011Unafraid of bursting your bubble, Wit's End crawls and slithers slowly, touching upon the darkest of themes.
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 9 out of 13
-
Mixed: 4 out of 13
-
Negative: 0 out of 13
-
Apr 27, 2011
-
Nov 28, 2021
-
May 1, 2011