• Record Label: Domino
  • Release Date: Oct 8, 2013
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 28 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 28
  2. Negative: 1 out of 28
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  1. Nov 24, 2020
    6
    I get a bit of a sense that this album is Calvi in cruise control and doesn't really build on her debut in any way. It's a good enough record but far from her strongest (for that I would recommend 2018's "Hunter"). Half of the songs sound like they want to be James Bond theme tunes. Like all of her work there is a huge PJ Harvey feel off the record but at least she adds her own dimensionsI get a bit of a sense that this album is Calvi in cruise control and doesn't really build on her debut in any way. It's a good enough record but far from her strongest (for that I would recommend 2018's "Hunter"). Half of the songs sound like they want to be James Bond theme tunes. Like all of her work there is a huge PJ Harvey feel off the record but at least she adds her own dimensions and a bit of drama with the orchestrations. You could certainly listen to worse. Expand
  2. Oct 18, 2014
    8
    Anna Calvi is one musician who I hope shall take home the mercury prize, after all, its not every day an album as extravagantly, darkly and emotionally alive as this comes out. One Breath quite literally, takes your breath away.
  3. Jan 26, 2014
    10
    If first album was THE revelation of the year, One Breath is the alucination we needed. A wonderfull mix of energy, elegance, virtuosity, from intimate to epic ambience, along all tracks with no exception. BEST album of 2013.
  4. Nov 9, 2013
    3
    Always the same kind of hipstery-chic albums praised by many critics while the music is dull boring and flat.
    Nothing happens, it's just generic rock soup all along. Come on, when was it good music? If i Had a choice between that and silence, I would choose silence.
  5. Nov 4, 2013
    6
    Some interesting songs like Carry me Over (the best one), Cry and Sing to me showing some musical evolution, although Sing to Me sounds cliché. Songs like "Love of my life", "Tristan" and "Piece By Piece" sound out of context.
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 24 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 24
  2. Negative: 0 out of 24
  1. Magnet
    Dec 18, 2013
    70
    Though Calvi hardly ever breaks from her aesthetic on One Breath, she owns it so well that you'd be hard-pressed to complain. [No. 105, p.53]
  2. Under The Radar
    Dec 4, 2013
    70
    [One Breath will not] take Anna Calvi out of the well-respected comfort zone that she currently inhabits. It is a striking and hypnotic record, laced with tension and talent, and bristling with a wide range of ideas. [Nov-Dec 2013, p.94]
  3. Nov 20, 2013
    66
    Calvi’s synthesized enough musical styles for at least three artists, and she’s clearly got ample chops to pull any of them off. She’s born to make a grand concept album one day. What she needs now is that grand concept.