Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 10 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 10
  2. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. Some may find the Aluminum Group's love-on-ice songs too slick, too lacking in visceral emotion. But like a cool breeze in summer, the Navins make melancholy a delicious treat.
  2. Thematically it's a less ambitious record than Pelo (and in terms of scale, Pedals), but listen to it as the Navins' Exile in Guyville and its truths are heartbreaking in their weary familiarity.
  3. Uncut
    80
    Exquisite. [Feb 2003, p.80]
  4. Rarely, if ever, have synths sounded so truly urbane, and the cumulative effect is postmodernist pop music that sounds simultaneously cutting edge, retro, and utterly timeless.
  5. Magnet
    80
    Could be a Tortoise record with vocals. [#57, p.81]
  6. Hear most of these songs a few times and you'll feel like you've known them all your life.
  7. [The music] is an unholy cross between Steely Dan, Elliott Smith and Air.
  8. It's comforting, for sure, and you could very well fall asleep listening, or use it as background music, but you'd be missing a lot.
  9. Like a night taxi ride along a broad, lighted, skyscraper-lined city street, Happyness, the band's latest, feels wondrous, daring and slightly dangerous.
  10. Blender
    40
    Their sense of perfection is also their downfall. [#11, p.124]

Awards & Rankings

User Score
8.7

Universal acclaim- based on 9 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 9
  3. Negative: 1 out of 9
  1. Paul
    Dec 8, 2004
    10
    extraordinary!
  2. Nick
    May 19, 2003
    9
    I'm partial to plano, but a definate 9 of 10. Music to come home drunk to and sing until your neighbors come knocking, and who I'm partial to plano, but a definate 9 of 10. Music to come home drunk to and sing until your neighbors come knocking, and who doesn't need that? Full Review »
  3. Rickk
    Jan 8, 2003
    10
    Absolutely their Best Album Yet.... A brilliant follow up to their last album Pelo .. John and Frank are increadable