Buy Now
| Buy on |
|
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
UncutNov 22, 2016At their best, on "Someone Far Away" and "Give Up," the group blends pop sparkle and melancholy indie charm in the manner of The Chills. [Jan 2017, p.21]
-
Q MagazineNov 15, 2016McClure says he's regressed to the catchy rock essentials after years spent experimenting: smart move. [Jan 2017, p.104]
-
Nov 4, 2016There’s a great and clear leap forward this time around, but this still has all the cornerstones of what drove so much attention: the ability to lull listeners through power pop or be taken in dreamlike trances, lyrics that take you on new journeys with every listen.
-
Nov 3, 2016It also exhibits a sleeker sound than the notably rough-hewn debut, with McClure having invested in "a laptop and some decent microphones." Thankfully, these changes don't erode the outfit's free-spirited charisma.
-
Nov 2, 2016Amongst the poppy organ and droning guitars, McClure’s managed to retain the ingenuous character of his debut, blending pop sparkle and melancholic indie charm in a way that recalls New Zealand’s legendary Chills.
-
Nov 1, 2016Under Gary McClure’s clear and eclectic direction, American Wrestlers have the potential to win over legions of fans based on their broad musical range. Goodbye Terrible Youth is music for tiny, sweaty clubs, with amps turned up loud and a knack for sophisticated tunes at the ready.
-
Dec 7, 2016Goodbye Terrible Youth is not a perfect record by any means--but it is an emotional record, and an affecting one at that.
-
Nov 1, 2016Songs like “Give Up”, “So Long”, “Terrible Youth”--all of them, really, there are only nine--are fuzzed out and unfussy, but not just simple pleasures. They kick in the door but then make themselves welcome for a long stay.
-
Nov 1, 2016Although the scattered nature of some of the songs keeps any single narrative from taking shape, the album is a significant improvement for a band that’s still coming into its own, still, in other words, in its youth.
-
Dec 12, 2016It does breeze on by without any major impact, but there’s a select number of pleasantly bittersweet cuts that are sure to liven up your afternoon commute for weeks on end.
-
Nov 4, 2016So, all things considered, it’s another solid entry in McClure’s catalogue.
-
Nov 1, 2016As McClure and co. look backward, their music only progresses forward.
-
Dec 8, 2016It just doesn't have the same personality that American Wrestlers' self-titled debut captured so well.
-
Nov 3, 2016While Amazing Grace has the low-key wistfulness of late-era Teenage Fanclub. Yet with this narrowing of focus comes a sense of safeness, and you can’t help but miss the sense of risk-taking that characterised McClure’s ramshackle early work.