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Jul 23, 2013Obsidian makes for a totally immersive plunge and, depending on where you are with your own head when you listen, either a welcome gulp of fresh air in recognition or a chance to hold your breath and dive deeply into life’s darker materials until you have to come back up again.
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May 31, 2013By blending the conceptual drive of Post-Foetus and the organic songwriting of Baths, Wiesenfeld has delivered on the promise of Cerulean and found his place among contemporaneous pop experimenters like Grimes and Autre Ne Veut.
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May 24, 2013Obsidian is a gorgeous suite of electronic pop songs that will draw you in and stay with you for days on end, and somehow it sounds like Baths more than Cerulean ever did.
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May 28, 2013Throughout, the songs on Obsidian are physical in a literal sense, mimicking the human motion of the characters described therein.
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May 28, 2013As an entity, Obsidian is neither more nor less accessible than Cerulean. Ultimately, your mood as a listener--and perhaps the weather--will dictate how often you’ll return to Obsidian‘s bleak and beautiful world.
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Jul 1, 2013This is an extremely strong, varied follow-up from an artist who is yet to fulfil his potential.
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MojoJun 18, 2013His spark remains undimmed. [Jul 2013, p.87]
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May 29, 2013This is the aching beauty of Obsidian: its ability to be so matter-of-fact and reposition the taciturn as commonplace.
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May 28, 2013For Obsidian, Wiesenfeld has simply stripped off the top layer of fluff to expose the raw pathos beneath his work. It is, as a result, a much more thematic and personal effort.
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May 28, 2013A headlong dive into the uncomfortable territory where vital art is made, this album takes all of Baths' skills to a new level.
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May 22, 2013Despite the density of the music, Obsidian is a wholly immersive experience, setting Baths back on course.
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May 22, 2013The music is more intimate this time around, and makes for an infinitely more telling description of who Baths is.
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UncutJul 10, 2013The fatalistic and darkening Gothic moods bring out some of the shiniest elements of his prodigious talent and imagination. [Aug 2013, p.67]
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Jul 1, 2013Baths’ second album is dark and distressing but ultimately compelling.
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May 31, 2013It’s a brave step to put down the filters, and embrace organic sounds, and one that is largely successful. However, much like discovering the inspiration of his chosen moniker (apparently he just really likes having a bath), some of the magic is lost in the process.
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May 30, 2013The desire to make pop songs has been complementary to the self-referential songwriting Weisenfeld has chosen to do, his choruses able to reinforce disdain, exemplify arousal as it grows and grows, or feel around until the sensation hits.
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May 29, 2013Obsidian is a brave and necessary record that builds on Baths’ glitchy poignance.
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May 22, 2013There’s no denying the technical ability and songcraft is there, and unpicking the layers is the most enjoyable part of listening, but it’s emotional tugging ultimately strikes as hollow, not through insincerity but in being too obfuscated or overbearing for me to really love these songs.
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May 24, 2013If you’re not bothered by the doom and gloom, Obsidian is just over 43 minutes of imaginative and spacious electro art--at times a bit jarring, but mostly beautiful.
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Jun 3, 2013Ultimately, Inter only solidifies Obsidian as an album with independent parts that are quite inspired on their own but only form a seemingly infinitely confused whole.
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Q MagazineMay 22, 2013[Wiesenfeld has an] uncommon ear for texture and rhythm, albeit one compromised by a weakness for self-consciously introspective lyrics and highfalutin sixth form poetry. [Jun 2013, p.93]
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Jun 4, 2013Obsidian is a shallow and unsatisfying exploration of this dark side.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 37 out of 45
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Mixed: 7 out of 45
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Negative: 1 out of 45
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May 29, 2013
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Jun 21, 2013
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Jun 6, 2013