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- Summary: The third full-length release for the New Zealand singer-songwriter was produced by John Parish.
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- Record Label: 4AD
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Score distribution:
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Positive: 17 out of 18
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Mixed: 1 out of 18
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Negative: 0 out of 18
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Apr 25, 2019At an age where the pressure is on to have everything worked out, Harding sounds delightfully free.
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Apr 24, 2019Designer is a record entirely in the image of its creator--Harding remains as lyrically oblique as ever, and the idiosyncrasies in her voice remain her calling card--and yet one that strongly recalls Julia Holter’s Have You in My Wilderness or Angel Olsen’s Burn Your Fire for No Witness in how calmly it oozes confidence.
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Apr 25, 2019A singular talent, Harding seems to have hit her stride on album number three, and while the darkness of previous efforts is still pervasive, Designer feels like a summer record, though it's probably best suited for dusk.
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Apr 25, 2019For anyone braced for a further explosion of oddness, the strangest thing about Designer might be how disarmingly pretty it is. The staginess of Harding’s vocals has been slightly toned down, although she is still wont to sing with a curious enunciation, as if she’s invented her own accent. The tunes are sweetly charming.
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Apr 26, 2019It is definitely the voice that is center-stage here, whether she is adopting an aviary croon or a mead-rich sing-speak that gives her a commanding confidence an air of detachment. The magic of her work is how she becomes more human by recognizing the alien lurking in our loves and lives
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Apr 25, 2019Elegant and elemental, quietly confident and masterfully understated, Designer feels like a breath of fresh air in a time dense with noise and algorithmic hiss.
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Apr 26, 2019At their core, the songs are fundamentally concerned with unguarded and confessional intimacy yet the manner in which they are presented is a hindrance as, on the whole, there is a sheen to Designer which it could well do without.
Score distribution:
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Positive: 4 out of 4
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Mixed: 0 out of 4
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Negative: 0 out of 4
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May 4, 2019
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Jul 9, 2020
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Nov 21, 2019
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Nov 20, 2021Quietly impressive no filler . Consistent to a key feeling very genuine and calming. With julia holter weirdness.
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