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The Soft Bounce
by
The Soft Bounce Image
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 10 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.3

Universal acclaim- based on 4 Ratings

  • Summary: The debut full-length release for Erol Alkan and Richard Norris as Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve features guest appearances from Euros Childs, Blaine Harrison of The Mystery Jets, Holly Miranda, Hannah Peel, and Jane Weaver.
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. PopMatters
    Jul 15, 2016
    90
    The Soft Bounce may not be the best album of the year, but it’s certainly one of the most enjoyable listens to come along within these first seven months. And with its lack of date-stamping, it’s surely one to which we can return time and again without the slightest whiff of nostalgia for 2016, 1996 or 1966.
  2. The Guardian
    Jun 30, 2016
    80
    On The Soft Bounce, he and Alkan have honed that idea [fusion of 60s psychedelia and acid house] into an album that uses a deep knowledge of the past to find its own unique niche in the present.
  3. Mixmag
    Jul 21, 2016
    80
    The whole album is perfectly paced, with hypnotic grooves and simple songwriting: density and space are constantly played off each other, helping to create something that should be taken in as a whole. It’s been well worth the wait.
  4. Uncut
    Jun 29, 2016
    70
    While they lack a reedy falsetto, guest vocalists such as Blaine Harrison, Euros Child and Holly Miranda bring discrete personalities to bear on songs which trippily track the lightly fantastic. [Aug 2016, p.72]
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  5. Under The Radar
    Jul 18, 2016
    70
    The Soft Bounce is more about variation than mind-warping, though that doesn't mean there aren't moments of fringe-frolicking.
  6. The Observer (UK)
    Jul 5, 2016
    60
    Highlights include Mystery Jets’s Blaine Harrison wigging out Sabbath-style on the crunching Iron Age; Euros Childs sounding sweetly spaced-out on the gently circling Door to Tomorrow; and the Magnetic North’s Hannah Peel cooing airily over the Stereolab/Broadcast-style, dark psych-pop of Delicious Light--but the Soft Bounce is a trip best taken as a whole.
  7. DIY Magazine
    Jul 21, 2016
    40
    Ultimately Beyond The Wizards sleeve sounds like what it is--a hobby. As an outsider, it simply doesn’t reap the same rewards as it might have for its creators.

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