Metascore
64

Generally favorable reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 7
  2. Negative: 1 out of 7
  1. The Crawling Distance, Pollard's umpteenth disc since officially going solo in 2004, offers more of what listeners have come to expect.
  2. It’s an album sure to please the long-time fans, but so damn fun and hook-filled that it should find a following in the larger indie rock community. This is an album you can build a career around.
  3. Filter
    76
    There are hits and misses as the slower ones take a little longer to catch on, but when the arena-rock sized riffs meet Pollard's mid-fi production, there really isn't anything else you can ask for. [Holiday 2008, p.92]
  4. Under The Radar
    70
    The Crawling Distance follows the same song and album format laid out in Is Off to Business. [Year End 2008]
  5. 60
    It features another ten songs of standard Pollard-isms--vaguely British, Robyn Hitchcock–esque vocals warped by reverb and Echoplex mazes; surrealistic, first-thought-next-thought lyrics; sudden loud crunches of lo-fi guitar; and melodies that soar but never quite achieve the permanence of his best work.
  6. Uncut
    60
    A solo album that sounds like a series of song sketches. [Feb 2009, p.89]
  7. Never has that rift between Pollard the songwriter and Tobias the arranger been more transparent-- and more problematic-- than on the formless, often dull The Crawling Distance, a particularly blank batch of Pollard tunes dressed to the nines in Tobias' perfunctory sheen.
User Score
7.2

Generally favorable reviews- based on 6 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 6
  3. Negative: 1 out of 6
  1. EdgarF
    Jul 16, 2009
    8
    Not sure why this is getting such negative reviews. Apart from the truly awful "Cave Zone," this is probably the most consistent solo album Not sure why this is getting such negative reviews. Apart from the truly awful "Cave Zone," this is probably the most consistent solo album of the man's career. Some of the reviews just seem to be annoyed at his prolific output, but that has nothing to do with the quality of this release. Full Review »
  2. NickE.
    Feb 1, 2009
    8
    I don't know how you could think that this album is "utter crap". Pretty straight forward album and also really good for a man who is I don't know how you could think that this album is "utter crap". Pretty straight forward album and also really good for a man who is releasing 7 records in 2009. Full Review »
  3. LesH.
    Jan 28, 2009
    0
    Utter crap.