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- Critic score
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Jun 20, 2018The band is tight, and the music ebbs and flows as usual; it just doesn’t go anywhere original. I hope the band will be able to right the shjip on their next effort.
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Jun 7, 2018Wooden Shijps has by all means created a summer record, albeit a record that is as combustible as the atmosphere in which it was written.
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May 31, 2018But even as he’s singing his most accessible songs to date, Johnson’s voice remains a highly impressionistic instrument, his words wafting through like smoke rings, disappearing just as they seem to be acquiring definition.
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May 25, 2018Momentum is lacking throughout much of the record, as comatose tracks like “Already Gone” drone on with little to grab the ear. Thankfully, the band perks up again during the closing stretch.
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May 25, 2018There is a nagging sense with this attempt that they are leaning on their influences even more than usual, however this is also stands as their best-produced and most accessible record, so there is a balance struck. Whether those outside of the proggy, psychedelic set will acknowledge that, remains to be seen.
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May 25, 2018Throughout, Johnson’s guitar wanders delicately across the sound with spectral beauty. It’s an album of hazy intensity, perfect for these times and this summer.
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UncutMay 24, 2018The frenzied, immersive and hard-charged psych the band has explored previously gives way to an album that is woozy, melodic and reflective. [Jul 2018, p.37]
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May 24, 2018Their playing is energetic and in good spirits, and most importantly, their positivity never sounds forced or unnatural. They're not acting like clowns and forcing anyone to smile, and they never sound too eager to please. They're simply having a good time and making relaxed, not-too-heavy boogie rock fit for a summer gathering or a road trip through the desert.
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May 24, 2018Wooden Shjips’ pleasant but toothless music feels insubstantial, if not insipid, in relation to the demands of our unforgiving present.
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May 22, 2018Whilst the cynical might ponder whether Wooden Shjips may only really have one song, at least on V they prove how well it can it be stretched and squashed into many alluring, energising and enveloping shapes with charming self-confidence.
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MojoMay 22, 2018V. creates a sense of space, both mental and physical, as well as the idea of an alternate perception that is the calling card of West Coast psychedelia. [Jun 2018, p.91]
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Q MagazineMay 22, 2018[The] sun-flecked sense of bliss is present throughout and halfway through they even drop in something approaching a conventional pop song with the cooling breeze of Already Gone. That lightness of touch is the real revelation here. [Jul 2018, p.118]
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May 22, 2018V. never rises above space rock, making the album feel like any other '60s hippie/psychedelic record. It's adequate, but when you can easily predict how it's going to play out, you're never left wanting more.
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May 22, 2018V is laced more richly with sunshine: it’s the mellowest and brightest album Wooden Shjips have released to date.