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Mar 1, 2011Capturing the intensity and raw emotion of her captivating live shows, Anna Calvi is an ambitious and always intriguing debut which heralds the arrival of a unique and inventive addition to the plethora of U.K. female singer/songwriters.
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Feb 10, 2011In a world overflowing with female singer-songwriters, Anna Calvi's exceptional guitar playing and raw, elemental style certainly mark her out as different from the herd.
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Feb 10, 2011For all the PJ Harvey comparisons Calvi will inevitably attract this record is more alternative cabaret than gothic melodrama -- and much better for it.
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Feb 10, 2011What Calvi's debut is a mixture of sprawling guitars that teeter somewhere between Tortoise's mathy noodlings, Deerhunter's brownish hue, Hendrix's fade outs and Howling Bells' shimmering grunge-gaze.
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Mar 10, 2011Unlike Cave, who drags all those poor characters of his down into that gruesome purgatory he calls a soul, Calvi simply lays hers unabashedly bare before us. Never have the aesthetics of doom been called to the service of so much exuberance.
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MojoApr 6, 2011Italian-blooded debutante rocks passionately. [March 2011, p. 96]
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Feb 10, 2011It'd be hard not to draw parallels between Calvi and [...] PJ Harvey. Yet while both women ooze an elemental kind of passion, Calvi is unashamedly slicker, especially when compared to Harvey's earlier, grungier work.
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Apr 1, 2011While a fairly brisk listen, the album does start to drag in its second half. Not that the later songs are particularly weak, but the only thing that really marks them out from those in the first is that they're a bit quieter.
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Feb 24, 2011Whether howling eerily over a low, rhythmic pulse or riding a huge riff, Calvi's sensuous presence brings much-needed sexual heat to today's tepid rock 'n' roll landscape.
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Mar 1, 2011Calvi's outstanding vocal tone and arrangements carry the emotional punches, while her lyrics can occasionally take a backseat role.
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Feb 9, 2011As an opening hand, it's a winner. It's defiantly mysterious, moonlit, and belongs on the periphery of pop, beckoning us mischievously to leave the mundane behind.
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Q MagazineFeb 2, 2011There's a little too much in the way of filler, but this is a promising start. [Feb. 2011, p. 113]
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Feb 10, 2011Each song feels like a one-night stand; some you slink away from, heart untouched –- but with others you fall torridly in love.
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Mar 21, 2011As Ms. Calvi sings about the overpowering forces of heavenly love and demonic passion, she can go from whisper to cataclysm in four minutes, and she regularly does.
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UncutFeb 8, 2011It's a fearless rejection of current pop trends, fashioning a benchmark of intensity and originality that the rest of this year's albums will struggle to match. [Fed 2010, p.94]
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Under The RadarMar 9, 2011It's obvious Calvi has a gift. Her commanding voice calls to mind some of the most powerful female performers in rock history. [Feb 2011, p.62]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 33 out of 38
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Mixed: 5 out of 38
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Negative: 0 out of 38
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Jun 30, 2011
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Jul 30, 2012
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Oct 3, 2011Anna Calvi is not just a younger PJ Harvey. Sheâ