| 90 |
Drowned In Sound
Look beneath the surface sheen, then, and you'll see gratefully receive This Gift as the best, most complete, Sons And Daughters long-player to date.
|
| 90 |
All Music Guide
Really though, just about any song could be singled out for praise. It's that strong of an album, strong enough to satisfy a desire for tattered glamour, for dramatic, inspired and powerful guitar rock that kind that only maybe the Bad Seeds at their best could once conjure up.
|
| 80 |
Dot Music
The viscous, darkly choppy, sexily fulsome and ferociously hard-driving blend of post-punk and country noir that distinguished their long-playing debut, "The Repulsion Box" is still evident, but it's matched with a bracing new breadth, dynamic diversity and myriad light/shade variations.
|
| 80 |
Los Angeles Times
The twining vocals of Adele Bethel and Scott Paterson may even remind you of X at times, but with Bethel's seductive urgings out front most of the time, This Gift hints at the spunkiest of American female-fronted popsters.
|
| 80 |
Dusted Magazine
It's a party, not a revival meeting, This Gift, but a good one.
|
| 80 |
Hot Press
Think The Cramps crossed with the B52s, with a fair dose of Smog and Cat Power thrown in, and you’ll be in the Sons & Daughters picture
|
| 80 |
musicOMH.com
This is a superlative third album, which builds on its predecessors while looking to the future.
|
| 80 |
Under The Radar
This band is no one-off, and this is their best work yet. [Winter 2008, p.84]
|
| 80 |
Mojo
The pace is relentlessly uptempo, but the sheer feisty spirit and conviction with which it is delivered ultimately brooks no argument. [Feb 2008, p.102]
|
| 77 |
Pitchfork
The biggest critique is that as an album, This Gift is perhaps too far in the red too much of the time, but even that complaint is tempered by the fact that the ride is so good
|
| 70 |
Boston Globe
There's a maddeningly incremental progression from each Sons and Daughters release to the next, but if the Scottish band is inching slowly toward a breakthrough, at least it has the direction right.
|
| 70 |
New Musical Express
Meatier, beatier, bigger and bouncier. And all the better for it.
|
| 70 |
Tiny Mix Tapes
They try their best to make a staggering number of genres their own, but ultimately prove themselves to be jacks-of-all-trades, masters of none.
|
| 70 |
Spin
This Gift flags halfway through when an odd excursion into retro-'60s twaddle gums up the works. [Feb 2008, p.97]
|
| 70 |
Blender
There’s an exhilarating and ruthless intensity here, mingling the grimness of country murder ballads with the simplicity of girl-group pop.
|
| 68 |
Lost At Sea
The album can be charming and downright catchy at times and, depending on your present mood, that may be just good enough.
|
| 60 |
The Guardian
Every song pulses with passion, drama and energy. The trouble is, not every song proves as intoxicating as that first one.
|
| 60 |
Uncut
Still square, then, but they're loosening up. [Feb 2008, p.93]
|
| 60 |
Q Magazine
This Gift rattles along in the finest punk tradition, even usefully recycling The Damned's 'Neat Neat Neat' riff on the title track. [Feb 2008, p.1000]
|
| 50 |
PopMatters
True, there are many raucous sing along riffs. But occasionally, you’re left wishing for a more catchy melody as well, which would take these albums from mid-CD filler to killer rock single.
|
| 50 |
Austin Chronicle
They oscillate wildly, but 'The Nest' reveals partial siring from Phil Spector, in sound if not psyche, while clammy, nervous rockers like the vitriolic kiss-off 'Darling'–-cribbing its recurring riff from the Stones' 'Mother's Little Helper'--veer into outright snark.
|
