• Record Label: Downtown
  • Release Date: Sep 22, 2009
Metascore
62

Generally favorable reviews - based on 10 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 10
  2. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. David Gray might not fit most people's definitions of a revolutionary artist, but he's effected his own startling transformation here.
  2. On his eighth studio album, Gray reclaims and reinvigorates his territory with Draw the Line, a polished yet ragged collection of complex love and exasperation melodies.
  3. Draw the Line is essentially another cog in the folksy wheel he's been spinning since "New Day at Midnight."
  4. The end result is a pleasing, intimate experience by no means out of context with the rest of Gray's catalogue.
  5. Although looser, Draw the Line doesn't reinvent the Gray wheel.
  6. The knock on Gray has always been that he's a bit boring, and Line, despite some genuinely nice moments and affecting vocal turns, isn't likely to change anyone's mind on that point.
  7. Draw the Line makes rather beguiling listening as the nights begin to draw in.
  8. Q Magazine
    60
    Exuding vague disquiet rather than outright despair, the self-produced DRaw The Line freshens up the formula just enough to keep things interesting. [Oct 2009, p.108]
  9. British singer/songwriter David Gray last released a proper studio album in 2005. It was called "Life in Slow Motion," and it was lovely. It was also a complete waste of that title, which could be far more accurately applied to his syrupy new LP Draw the Line.
  10. Mojo
    40
    It's all tawdrily familiar. [Oct 2009, p.102]
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 21 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 21
  2. Negative: 1 out of 21
  1. Sep 12, 2013
    7
    "Draw The Line" doesn't deviate from 00's David Gray. 11 tracks that veer between not bad and good without ever catching fire. There are"Draw The Line" doesn't deviate from 00's David Gray. 11 tracks that veer between not bad and good without ever catching fire. There are plenty of albums in todays market selling on the back of a couple of hit singles with nothing else but filler. At least with David Gray, there is little more substance present. Opener "Fugitive" is probably the strongest track quickly followed by the impressive title track "Draw The Line". Overall, the first half of the album is generally decent and notably stronger than the second half. Full Review »