- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Mar 14, 2011While the music on Land and Fixed revels in this newfound clarity, the vocals are still processed and manipulated. Where that juxtaposition worked on earlier recordings (when the two sides were still on the same playing field), it doesn't coalesce nearly as well here.
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Mar 14, 2011Sniper's voice still sags and drags, but Land and Fixed is remarkably feel-good, even when channeling the Cure via the Breakfast Club bounce of "Blurred Tonight" or Joy Division on cold-wave throbber "Collides."
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Mar 14, 2011Blank Dogs is the work of an artist who has found his voice in the sound of another era, and it speaks quite eloquently on Land and Fixed; anyone who enjoys the chilly rush of classic era synth pop will be jazzed by this music, and even those who prefer "real" pop music may find they're not immune to its charms.
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Mar 14, 2011So many of the tracks on the disc are strong musically and structurally that it's hard to argue with Sniper's singular vision....But, it'd be nice if, on one out of every few of those tracks, Sniper would find a way out of his monotone.
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Mar 14, 2011Sniper is nothing if not reliable, and consistent. But what I will return to, even after the memory of this particular album becomes blurred, is "Blurred Tonight" and the other songs that have deviated, even in the slightest, from the program.
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Mar 14, 2011The album only runs at about 40 minutes, which isn't too long. But after awhile, Sniper's seasick, British-inflected vocals can start to wear thin on your nerves. That said, the album contains some killer songs.
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Mar 14, 2011Land and Fixed's deliberately obscured pop elements--irrefutable though they are--come across slightly too studied to tempt that kind of empathy. The album hovers between the audacity of no wave at its most impulsive and the poignancy of crossover artists who've openly borrowed from the genre, reaping the benefits of neither extreme.
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Mar 14, 2011Land and Fixed suffers from a dearth of arresting moments, and the songs that do stand out typically only do so by directly aping well-worn standards.