Lost in Alphaville
by The Rentals
Metascore
69

Generally favorable reviews - based on 13 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 13
  3. Negative: 0 out of 13
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  1. Paste Magazine
    Aug 26, 2014
    82
    Lost In Alphaville retains that fuzzed-out exuberance characteristic to the golden era of indie rock, but little else.
  2. Sputnikmusic
    Aug 28, 2014
    80
    Brimming with melody and bustling with energy, The Rentals have made a statement album out of Lost In Alphaville.
  3. AllMusic
    Aug 25, 2014
    80
    Certainly more mature and thoughtful, with no "Friends of P" in sight, but plenty of songs that sound like timeless hits, and plenty of powerfully felt and delivered songs that hit hard right in the nostalgia zone, drawing blood and tears with every blow.
  5. Under The Radar
    Aug 29, 2014
    75
    Lost in Alphaville isn't afraid to stick to what Sharp has always done best--big guitars and big hooks--but still has elements of Seven More Minutes' experimentation.
  6. New Musical Express (NME)
    Sep 8, 2014
    70
    Warm and welcoming, Alphaville sounds a great place to lose yourself.
  7. Alternative Press
    Aug 22, 2014
    70
    Alphaville's best moments tend to be its most deliberate and glammy. [Sep 2014, p.108]
  8. Pitchfork
    Aug 22, 2014
    69
    While [Matt Sharp] wisely defers to Wolfe and Laessig to deliver the album's biggest hooks, his unwavering wistfulness still has a way of flattening out Lost in Alphaville’s emotional terrain and lending the album a steady-to-a-fault temperament.
  9. The Line of Best Fit
    Sep 9, 2014
    65
    Lost in Alphaville is sometimes a little too adrift in its own world and its own thoughts of sound to make sense today.
  10. DIY Magazine
    Aug 29, 2014
    60
    It’s lighthearted and radio-ready and fun while being marginally original about it, and that’s okay.
  11. PopMatters
    Aug 27, 2014
    60
    Rentals boosters probably won’t be able to shake off the fact that Lost in Alphaville is just way too familiar for its own good.
  12. Exclaim
    Aug 22, 2014
    60
    Sharp laments the weakening of expression though technology, which is fitting, as this applies to the album. Where there were once fireworks, the Rentals still deliver a bit of a lazer show.
  13. The A.V. Club
    Aug 26, 2014
    58
    Without a fresh set of tunes tailored for the task of revisiting the past, Lost In Alphaville fails at sounding satisfyingly new or old.
  14. Consequence
    Aug 22, 2014
    50
    The issue with Lost in Alphaville, besides simply retooling earlier Rentals songs, is its feeling of playing it safe.

User Reviews

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User Score
7.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 5
  3. Negative: 1 out of 5
  1. Danm95VFF
    May 7, 2016
    7
    There's a lot of nineties nostalgia to be found here; the album sounds not too different from the ROTR era, though maybe a little moreThere's a lot of nineties nostalgia to be found here; the album sounds not too different from the ROTR era, though maybe a little more measured and matured, but all of the signature Rentals elements are very much still intact.… Full Review »
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