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Aug 20, 2020D'Agostino remains one of music's most enigmatic yet intensely relatable figures. A voice like a car engine cutting in and out and the discursive, layered nature of his songwriting ensures the full impact of Empty Country won't land for several listens. This, if anything, is just another notch on its list of strengths.
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Aug 20, 2020Throughout, D'Agostino's words are intricate and so tangled in detail that the stories are obscured; it's more like flipping through a photo album without footnotes — you're not told the story, but you feel the impression it leaves on you.
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Aug 20, 2020Exquisitely textured. ... Every song has terrific sonic and narrative depth.
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Aug 20, 2020It’s a glorious album and everyone should be talking about it right now. It fully delivers on the promise of last year’s outstanding lead single, “Ultrasound,” and features a ton of stylistic twists and turns. It feels like something completely different from D’Agostino’s last band but is almost guaranteed to please its fans
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Aug 20, 2020These songs work as an extension of himself—coming from one of indie rock's most literate songwriters—delivered with thoughtful compassion and no shortage of ambition.
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Aug 20, 2020If Empty Country is a shade less wondrous than Cymbals Eat Guitars’ final records, that’s more feature than defect. Those albums were grand statements, designed to resonate with a vast audience, even if that audience didn’t actually exist. What Empty Country lacks in wild swings for the bleachers, though, it makes up for with a rangy intimacy that buys it a different sort of goodwill.