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Darlings

Kevin Drew

Darlings

Second solo album from the Toronto musician who co-founded the baroque-pop collective Broken Social Scene

ADM rating[?]

6.6

Label
City Slang / Arts & Crafts
UK Release date
24/03/2014
US Release date
18/03/2014
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  1. 9.0 |   musicOMH

    A record that feels simultaneously cerebral and carnal – and things don’t get much sexier than that
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  2. 9.0 |   God Is In The TV

    Darlings is a sumptuous recording; eleven tracks of whacked-out bliss wherein Drew extols the various merits of sex, solitude, dancing by yourself and a life fast approaching forty
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  3. 8.5 |   Earbuddy

    Drew knows how to grasp his audience emotionally with his words and his musical touch
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  4. 8.0 |   All Music

    The sprawling pop experimentalism that was the bedrock of his former project has been subdued and refined to fit Drew's more singular vision and sharpened songwriting
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  5. 8.0 |   FasterLouder

    As is his custom, he deploys that lagging, sing-speaky delivery in service of some sensual, awkwardly literal subject matter
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  6. 7.6 |   Pitchfork

    You get a good sense of just what kind of man Drew is on Darlings, reconciling monogamy with promiscuity, Broken Social Scene’s cheap-seats bombast with love-seat confidentiality
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  7. 7.5 |   Consequence Of Sound

    He knows his strengths, and the resulting album is a warm testament to his mature, stellar songwriting that just wants the world to love better
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  8. 7.0 |   Uncut

    Another uplifting, honest set. Print edition only

  9. 7.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    For a man who’s spent so much of his career surrounded by a veritable who’s who of Canadian indie rock, the nuance and confidence that he brings to his solo work is startling
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  10. 6.7 |   Pretty Much Amazing

    Darlings is very listenable and mostly fun – just don’t overthink it and keep the BSS comparisons to a minimum
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  11. 6.0 |   DIY

    ‘Darlings’ is a good record
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  12. 6.0 |   The Music

    An entirely enjoyable and pleasant acoustic rock record
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  13. 6.0 |   PopMatters

    The best parts of Darlings make you work, as Drew does, to peel back the surface and dig into what’s there but some of it just leaves us with quiet, impenetrably sweet sounds that repetition can’t quite crack through
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  14. 6.0 |   The Skinny

    For the most part, this is Drew at his most meditative
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  15. 6.0 |   NME

    Overall, it suggests that Drew is enjoying his time off from the indie-orchestral wallop of Broken Social Scene
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  16. 6.0 |   Rolling Stone

    Drew's songs still zone out, but the focus here is on a stripped-down luster somewhere between occasional bandmate Feist and the National
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  17. 5.0 |   Clash

    ‘Darlings’ is a concrete mixer full of ideas, although it’s tricky to pinpoint if Drew’s actually laid the foundations of a decent record
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  18. 4.0 |   Q

    Proof that honesty isn't always the best policy Print edition only

  19. 4.0 |   The 405

    If it turns out that Broken Social Scene aren't going to reform any time soon, then we must at least hope that on his next solo effort Drew might call on some of them to help rouse something interesting in his songwriting again
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Kevin Drew: Darlings

  • Download full album for just £7.49
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