January 24, 2020
There are shades of classic Stereolab in En Attendant Ana's stylish analog tone and sizzling vintage organs, though their garage-pop aesthetic and spiky attack feels ultimately more human. Infectious in spirit and boasting numerous memorable songs, Juillet is a marvelous album and a great improvement on the group's debut.
May 1, 2007
Without seeming to emulate Nick Drake while surely taking influence from him, Stratton produced something stirring and hyper-personal yet universally beautiful with this, his official debut. Recorded between high school and college, it combines a breathy, close-mic vocal style, accomplished fingerpicking, and a poetic vision, both musically and lyrically. Even though the songs seem to come from a nearly monkish vantage point of isolation, there is lifting beauty here, a need for connection, and breathtaking flights, swoops, and turns of melody.