- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
‘Emoh’ is revealing at all times, but utterly dignified throughout, and it’s a wonderful solo record.
-
SpinOn these subtly lovelorn songs, his voice quavers with a grounded, lived-in authority. [Feb 2005, p.92]
-
While this new batch of songs is pleasant and often charming, they're not as memorable or passionate as Barlow's best.
-
Emoh is full of quiet lyricism and Nick Drake beauty.
-
But while it's appealing to hear Barlow sound so contented as he approaches middle age, Emoh can't help but lack in the emotional immediacy so typical of Barlow's earlier, non-eponymous work.
-
The album has a sonic cohesiveness that makes for a consistently pleasant listening experience.
-
Emoh is one of the first surprisingly great albums of 2005.
-
Barlow fails to write an indie rock standard, something he usually manages once per album, but EMOH still exceeds expectations.
-
It's a mature, accomplished statement for one of indie rock's most reliably miserable men.
-
As far as songs go, Barlow hasn't been this good in years.
-
UncutHe delivers 14 sweetly sombre neo-folk tunes that reveal just how subtly pervasive the man's influence really is. [Mar 2005, p.108]
-
14 songs focused intently on melody and chord progressions, not licks or repetitive riffs or tricky drumbeats.
-
New Musical Express (NME)Where once lo-fi underachievement stifled Barlow's outsider pop genius, 'Emoh' abandons dictaphones to the dustbin and sees Lou documenting his wonderful, incisively literate pop songs with something resembling sheen. [5 Feb 2005, p.51]
-
EMOH is a bit rambling, and could stand to lose a song or two so as to not detract from the its power, but considering Barlow's sometimes egregious prolificacy, these 14 songs are about as polished as he gets.
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 17 out of 19
-
Mixed: 1 out of 19
-
Negative: 1 out of 19
-
jasoncApr 24, 2005easy to dismiss at first listen i've grown to love this set of songs.
-
[Anonymous]Mar 31, 2005
-
allenmMar 24, 2005