The Invisible Man
by Mark Eitzel
  • Record Label: Matador
  • Release Date: May 22, 2001
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 12
  3. Negative: 0 out of 12
  1. AllMusic
    90
    This time out, Eitzel has built his arrangements around spare keyboard lines, atmospheric electronic samples, and percussion loops that blend with his voice and acoustic guitar to create an effect that suggest a more spare, organic version of Portishead, or a Jon Brion production that's stuck in a blue funk. But the new surroundings suit the songs quite well...
  2. Spin Cycle
    88
    A typically bruised and beautiful collection of lovelorn ballads, Raymond Carveresque character studies and darkly romantic confessionals.
  3. Almost Cool
    80
    Again shows that Eitzel is a total gem of a singer/songwriter.
  5. Magnet
    80
    Eitzel is a far cry from Dido, but he still manages to find a proving ground where his nicotine-stained fingerpicking and tales of emotional erosion can make an uneasy peace with the precision of the Portishead crowd. [#50, p.90]
    All this publication's reviews
  6. Alternative Press
    80
    An album of mature pop that's more good-humored than its moping, acoustic-over-electronic arrangements let on. [Aug 2001, p.86]
    All this publication's reviews
  7. L.A. Weekly
    80
    Eitzel’s written with genuine warmth before, but it’s been several albums since he’s backed it with sounds that stand on their own this well.
  8. Wall of Sound
    71
    Eitzel's songs, at their best, could serve as fodder for the next Sinatra, should such a crooner emerge from a dingy bar on the far side of town. As performed by Eitzel himself, his compositions resonate with a mix of existential melodrama and black humor that cuts deep to the bone.
  9. Sonicnet
    70
    While the San Francisco-based songwriter is still crafting unmistakably Eitzel-esque gloom tunes, his latest, The Invisible Man, is his most eclectic outing to date, veering from the low-key electronica of the opening track to the understated atmospherics of "Sleep."
  10. Spin
    70
    His finest album since American Music Club split. [June 2001, p.145]
    All this publication's reviews
  11. New Musical Express (NME)
    70
    Eitzel does doomed introspection with more wit than the average bear, however, and more tunefully, too.

Awards & Rankings

95
#95 Best Album of 2001

User Reviews

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User Score
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No user score yet- Awaiting 1 more rating

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. HerveB
    Sep 8, 2004
    10
    The answer to should I love Eitzel solo more than with AMC is a big YES! An album that makes me shiver and cry (mostly with joy as surprising The answer to should I love Eitzel solo more than with AMC is a big YES! An album that makes me shiver and cry (mostly with joy as surprising it might seem)… Full Review »
  2. BenjaminBunny
    Apr 17, 2004
    8
    Not really a great album, but the closest he's come since AMC's "Mercury." The electronic elements, surprisingly, bolster this.
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