These Four Walls
by We Were Promised Jetpacks
  • Record Label: Fat Cat
  • Release Date: Jul 7, 2009
Metascore
72

Generally favorable reviews - based on 13 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 13
  3. Negative: 0 out of 13
  1. The A.V. Club
    91
    These Four Walls is like a 50-minute, 11-song tour through the Scottish scene’s past, present, and future, emphasizing how much of the country’s best pop music has been concerned with transporting listeners to specific places, so we can all linger there together.
  2. musicOMH.com
    80
    These Four Walls is rousing, pop-like in its immediacy and pretty damn enjoyable.
  3. Prefix Magazine
    80
    These Four Walls retains its charm, even when Thompson goes to the well perhaps one too many times with the line repetition trick.
  5. Mojo
    80
    As this crackles with youthful brio and subtlety, we can start speculating what this band may go on to achieve. [Aug 2009, p.98]
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  6. Tiny Mix Tapes
    80
    These Four Walls is a consistently exciting album full of memorable songs, and one of maybe five records this year so far that I would recommend unreservedly.
  7. Drowned In Sound
    70
    It's a nagging feeling that despite the sheer addictiveness of the material, the stonkingly monumental percussion and the band's fledgling yet highly-accomplished abilities, it’s a bit devoid of that certain spark.
  8. New Musical Express (NME)
    70
    Sure, this isn’t going to frighten the rabbits just yet, but they do occupy a beguiling space between playful celtic reverie and the pits of drone-rock hell.
  9. Pitchfork
    67
    They don't have the lyrical complexity of the bands that they will be compared to (from a young U2 to the aforementioned Frightened Rabbit), but they do have the energy and that's a promising place to start.
  10. AllMusic
    60
    At times, WWPJ do give into their dour side too much, and while there's no denying that their dynamic shifts and all-or-nothing climaxes pack a punch, songs such as 'This Is My House, This Is My Home' and 'It's Thunder and It's Lightning' get repetitive. Fortunately, as These Four Walls unfolds, WWPJ show that they can do more than just anthemic angst.
  11. Hot Press
    60
    Perfectly natural indie music from Scottish band.
  12. Alternative Press
    60
    Walls tends to fade into the background during its instrumental moments, dulled by textures and emotional ebbs that aren't very distinctive. Better are sharper rock songs. [Aug 2009, p.115]
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  13. Uncut
    60
    The passion evident throughout help disguise the feeling we've been here before. [Jul 2009, p.109]
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  14. PopMatters
    60
    You don’t doubt the sincerity, but it sometimes seems a bit too earnest, a bit hard to swallow, for these ears at least. Still, a promising debut, and I’ll bet they’re ace live.

User Reviews

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User Score
8.6

Universal acclaim- based on 20 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 20
  3. Negative: 0 out of 20
  1. IsaacA
    Jul 15, 2009
    10
    With a Scottish drawl akin to The View they combine the pop know-how of Snow Patrol, the talent for the slow-burning epic of Sigur Ros, and With a Scottish drawl akin to The View they combine the pop know-how of Snow Patrol, the talent for the slow-burning epic of Sigur Ros, and the driving guitar work of Biffy Clyro.… Full Review »
  2. EliasK.
    Jul 12, 2009
    5
    Dull and staged. You keep waiting for these songs to break through and explode with some kind of energy but they fall flat.
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