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The WireMar 3, 2020Countless Branches does nothing different, but seems to knock them all dead by virtue of its naked simplicity alone. Some of these tracks are scarcely crafted songs at all but simple musings, addressed to no one in particular, not even an inward self, just uttered over soft, slow piano chords. [Mar 2020, p.48]
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Feb 11, 2020The album is beautifully and judiciously arranged, but a collection of bonus tracks on the expanded edition show how Countless Branches might have sounded with more instruments and more people.
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Jan 22, 2020Despite its shifts in style, Countless Branches is cohesive in terms of both sound and subject matter.
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Jan 21, 2020Countless Branches is just 27 minutes long, but it’s majestic. Its brevity allows the listener the chance to become immersed in Fay’s lyrical world of love, time and hope.
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Jan 21, 2020Listening to it feels like sitting down and soaking in the stories of someone who has seen it all, written in a direct, uncomplicated and emotionally resonant way.
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Jan 17, 2020Countless Branches, perhaps due to its profound yet intimate vision as well as its craft, just may be Fay's masterpiece.
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Jan 16, 2020Fortunately, with this, his first album since 2015's Who Is the Sender?, his status as a modern chamber pop mainstay is strongly confirmed.
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Jan 15, 2020This is one of those rare records were extra additions aren't just unnecessary; fine as they are, the fuller arrangements of some of these same songs included here as bonus tracks suggest that Fay has cooked up material of such elemental and fragile beauty that any additional noises could easily scare away the magic.
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Q MagazineJan 14, 2020The minimalism only focuses the listener on his searching, spiritual lyrics and lovely, time-aged voice. [Feb 2020, p.111]
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MojoJan 14, 2020Instead of meeting fire with ire, there's an attempt to provide calm, clarity, a space to contemplate what really matters. [Feb 2020, p.93]
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UncutJan 14, 2020It's a warmer interpretation of Fay's celebration of and concern for the state of the world than on 2015's icier Who IS The Sender? [Feb 2020, p.22]
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Jan 14, 2020It’s a lot to take in, and fresh corridors reveal themselves with each listen; it’s questionable whether they lead to any answers, and Fay would be the last person to claim they do, but it’s an intriguing exploration every step of the way.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 8 out of 12
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Mixed: 2 out of 12
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Negative: 2 out of 12
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Jan 18, 2020
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Mar 22, 2020
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Feb 3, 2020