- Record Label: Control Group
- Release Date: Apr 22, 2008
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
So, if you're with indie-pop’s backward-gazing contingent, or if you prefer it when ‘achingly beautiful’ actually aches, or if you want an example of style-versus-substance as a false dilemma--then get this record.
-
FilterWhen El Perro Del Mar provides cinematic sadness, she's at her best, which is thankfully for the bulk of this album--a record that is in the end, a heartbreaking listen. [Spring 2008, p.103]
-
From the Valley to the Stars is a fairly magical trip to the center of heartache.
-
El Perro Del Mar will find a bigger following abroad with From The Valley To The Stars; the sound is more refined, the melodies stand out more, and Assbring's vocals are much more accomplished than on her earlier digital releases and the eponymous freshman release.
-
Under The RadarWith From the Valley to the Stars, El Peroo del Mar has not only avoided the sophomore slump that plauges so many singer/songwriters, she may have even passed the triumph of her debut. [Spring 2008, p.75]
-
UncutOn first listen, this follow-up is less impressive, but subtle melodies soon sugar the melancholy of 'Glory to the Owlrd' and 'Happiness Won Me over.' [June 2008, p.100]
-
Stronger, more contemplative feelings are at work here; gone are the sugary la-la-la's and superficial lyrics inserted on cue.
-
MagnetFrom The Valley To The Stars has some fine moments, but it looks awfully unflattering in the light of its less distracted and infinitely sharper predecessor. [Summer 2008, p.102]
-
From the Valley to the Stars has hills that rise close to "El Perro del Mar's" peaks, and its cohesive vision is a pleasure to behold. At the same time, though, it harps on its themes with an overzealous single-mindedness, occasionally letting flimsy stuff support an overarching conceit that requires foundations of marble.
-
These songs sound more like parts of songs that have been extracted from something bigger and more fully realized.
-
With a little more pace and drama to offset this off-whitest of visions, El Perro Del Mar could be an interesting prospect indeed.
-
The GuardianIt is very beautiful, ethereally so, its chanted, chiming vocals wafting over multilayered instrumental tracks as delicate and intricately constructed as lace.... Despite that, the 16 songs together lack variety, one drifting into another, the overall mood too solemn and somnolent.
-
Though the 16-track set achieves no sonic heights, Assbring's stirring lyrics and faint yet convincing delivery convey heartbreak gracefully. [May 2008, p.98]
-
From The Valley To The Stars is simply a collection of mostly good and occasionally great songs that just doesn’t quite work as a whole.
-
MojoThe rolling melodies, stately pace and closed-miked, out of phase vocals result in an off-kilter whole, tempered by contributions from the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. [July 2008, p.111]
-
The result is a series of boring romances and half-assed torch songs that drag their feet in a way that’s exhausting to listen to.
-
From the Valley to the Stars doesn’t have that directness [of her first album]; it gives the persistent feeling that it is nothing but parts.
-
Serene but emotionally flat, Valley feels like too much church on a cold Sunday afternoon.
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 5 out of 9
-
Mixed: 1 out of 9
-
Negative: 3 out of 9
-
PabloH.Sep 5, 2008No recommendable.
-
RodrigoA.Sep 5, 2008So boring, so aching, so fake, so stupid... it´s not a nothing. I heard all album and feel a lot of untrue feelings.
-
AlérianF.Sep 5, 2008