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The Alien Coast Image
Metascore
68

Generally favorable reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: The fourth full-length release for Alabama soul group St. Paul & the Broken Bones was recorded in Birmingham and was produced by Matt Ross-Spang.
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 7
  2. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. Jan 26, 2022
    80
    It is a jarring, inventive, exciting, and compelling album that deserves and rewards multiple listens. Its creativity and complexity sketch out innovative new paths for this band as they approach one decade of artistry together. If The Alien Coast is any indication, we are in for boundary-defying joy in the future.
  2. Jan 26, 2022
    77
    The Alien Coast’s varied array of influences sound wholly unfamiliar coming from St. Paul & The Broken Bones, but they work. Whether they’re welcome is another question. No one wants to think about annihilation when they’re engaging with art to find respite from annihilation, but The Alien Coast’s fluctuations in tone are so rewarding to confront that they make the record’s message that much easier to absorb.
  3. Jan 26, 2022
    70
    When the band does dig into R&B it does so in the modern era rather than leaning retro (there is a noticeable lack of horns throughout) as “Ghost In Smoke” and “Tin Man Love” both use skittering trap like drums and digital bass bumps to groove. St. Paul and the Broken Bones are constantly evolving and the fearless band goes with what inspires them, on The Alien Coast that covers a little bit of everything.
  4. Jan 28, 2022
    70
    Taken together, The Alien Coast isn't as fun or as moving as the Broken Bones' earliest releases, but their commitment to experimentation and growth is as impressive as their collective technical skill, and in this case, the act of discovery provides its own fascination.
  5. Uncut
    Jan 26, 2022
    60
    Amid all this weirdness, the sleek disco banger "The last Dance" stands out like a beacon in a cave, lighting the way towards a more sustainable reinvention. [Feb 2022, p.34]
  6. Rolling Stone
    Feb 8, 2022
    60
    A prickly selection of psychedelic R&B and proto-funk. [Feb 2022, p.72]
  7. Mojo
    Jan 26, 2022
    60
    If the forward-looking, ever exploratory production just occasionally outguns the songwriting, Daft Punk-ish floor-filler The Last Dance is unimpeachable, a defiant shimmy toward the apocalypse. [Mar 2022, p.82]
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