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Songs of the Plains Image
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 7 Ratings

  • Summary: The second full-length release for the Canadian singer-songwriter was produced by Dave Cobb.
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. 100
    There’s no fuss in the instrumentation, either, mostly just gentle picking or brisk, deep thrums on Wall’s acoustic guitar, which are bolstered by icy laps of pedal steel and the occasional harmonica. It’s effective in the simplest of ways--and allows the listener’s imagination to do the rest
  2. Oct 11, 2018
    80
    On his terrific sophomore record, Wall paints a portrait of a mythic Canadiana, a western region of lonesome plains and grizzled frontiersmen, of rodeos and gunfighters, of hardscrabble existences and unlucky bounces.
  3. Nov 12, 2018
    80
    It’s an interesting artifact. Better, though, it’s another strong album from the young singer. Wall’s voice alone would carry these songs, but they’re each well crafted for the coherence of the larger picture.
  4. 70
    These performances could have come from an old Folkways album. Colter Wall captures a long-forgotten time and place, keeping the cowboy folklore alive by reminding us that poignant songs sung by a superb singer will never sound outdated.
  5. Uncut
    Oct 11, 2018
    70
    This second album tips a stetson to the neglected Western heritage of his native country, from the stark beauty of "Saskatchewan In 1881" to the deliciously luminous cover of Wilf Carter's "Calgary Round-Up." [Nov 2018, p.37]
  6. Nov 15, 2018
    70
    As alluring as his spooky, skeletal arrangements are--steel guitars are used as howling accents, not solos; he occasionally gooses his band to follow a train track rhythm, but is usually content picking out support on his hollow acoustic--it's Wall's concrete sense of time and place that gives Songs of the Plains an unusual resonance.
  7. Oct 12, 2018
    70
    The set walks a fine line with its retro-fetishism, but it manages to dodge hokey-ness thanks to Wall’s great voice, a low-key delivery, and invitingly haunted backdrops by legends like Lloyd Green (pedal steel) and Mickey Raphael (harmonica). Time-travelling lyrics help, too.

See all 8 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. Oct 12, 2018
    9
    The 23 year old Canadian really brings it on this sophomore effort. The album shines with simple arrangements and a unique voice reminiscentThe 23 year old Canadian really brings it on this sophomore effort. The album shines with simple arrangements and a unique voice reminiscent of campfires and cowboys from days of yore. Wall is a fresh pioneer of a genre which has largely fallen by the wayside and his latest is irresistibly listenable. Collapse