Three Futures
by Torres
  • Record Label: 4AD
  • Release Date: Sep 29, 2017
User Score
7.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 19 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 19
  3. Negative: 2 out of 19
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  1. joethealien
    Dec 11, 2017
    9
    while this one takes a few more listens than a certain fabulously gripping second full-length, Three Futures is hands-down her best work to date. I understand a feeling of confusion with the more synthesized tracks such as Marble Focus and the new wave Greener Stretch, but after I got two full listens, this album made so much sense. her signature alt-rock guitar riffing is still prominentwhile this one takes a few more listens than a certain fabulously gripping second full-length, Three Futures is hands-down her best work to date. I understand a feeling of confusion with the more synthesized tracks such as Marble Focus and the new wave Greener Stretch, but after I got two full listens, this album made so much sense. her signature alt-rock guitar riffing is still prominent in this album. Torres' knack for catchy, interesting melodic pathways is stronger than ever before, with phenomenal cuts such as Righteous Woman, Bad Baby Pie and Skim. this is also her most sonically diverse album, with the aforementioned new wave cut, and even a surprise pop-punk banger: Helen in the Woods. her lyrics are as introspective and compelling as ever, and her melodies only seem to be getting more and more polished. highly recommend.… Expand
  2. DavidWasHere
    Oct 1, 2017
    6
    While I do respect her choice of switching from a 90s alt-rock sound to a more synthetic sound, and to be fair the instrumentation is pretty solid, so it;'s not like Torres didn't know what she was doing nor playing it safe, Tree Futures is just not very interesting and often falls under bland electronic ambeint sound with a rock edge to it. But unfortunately it's not very exciting rockWhile I do respect her choice of switching from a 90s alt-rock sound to a more synthetic sound, and to be fair the instrumentation is pretty solid, so it;'s not like Torres didn't know what she was doing nor playing it safe, Tree Futures is just not very interesting and often falls under bland electronic ambeint sound with a rock edge to it. But unfortunately it's not very exciting rock music so it's just kind of dull white noise. There are some interesting songs here and there, like Righteous Woman, and like I said before Torres is confident with this sound choice and nothing is played terribly or there were flat out bad song ideas, it's just not very interesting to me at least. I can see people digging this though, which is why I'm being a bit forgiving with my rating.… Collapse

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 16 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
  1. Record Collector
    Nov 13, 2017
    80
    Easy listening it isn’t, but Three Futures cuts into the tangled complexities of human connection with an uncannily unwavering precision.
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  2. Magnet
    Oct 17, 2017
    70
    It's not an easy listen--"Greener Stretch" is one of the rare songs that has an immediate hook--but it commands, and rewards, attention. [No. 147, p.61]
  3. Dusted Magazine
    Oct 16, 2017
    70
    Her narrative sees all, experiences all, but keeps a remove in the dry, mechanical beats, the tamped down drama of synthetic accompaniment, the vocal lines that only once and a while slip past a murmur into wilder swoops and yelps. This is a cerebral, abstracted album about the physical, one that deals in potentialities and implied trajectories, rather than the immediacy of pulse and sweat and organ functions.
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