Port O'Brien - All We Could Do Was Sing

Reviews of All We Could Do Was Sing

Rating Summary
n/a by uk.launch.yahoo.com All We Could Do Was Sing does exactly what it say on the tin - an astonishing album, rich in storytelling and fables; woven with 11 brilliant songs by a band apparently driven by nothing more than the sheer love of performing. Read more
n/a by www.drownedinsound.com Thats not to say they dont come across like an all-singing, all-banging Life Aquatic armed with pots, pans and whatever instrument comes to hand, but from the raw, stamping folk-punk to the string layered sea ditties, All We Could Do Was Sing is much more than it initially lets on. Read more
n/a by www.hotpress.com And as folksiness, indieness and bittersweet mournfulness set the tone, it also becomes apparent that this is much better than the words ‘folk and ‘indie on their own suggest. Read more
n/a by Popmatters ['Valdez' is] a wholly appropriate ending to an album by a band that makes its own experiences with distance and isolation into something that is, whether sad or celebratory, at once as changeable and as constant as the sea. Read more
n/a by Pitchfork Media The good news is that the band's official debut (following the 2007 collection Wind And The Swell) is still a solid art-pop album at its core, and importantly, more American Gangster than The Crane Wife. Read more
n/a by www.musicomh.com There's a distance to their music, as if they're floating away on the horizon, just out of reach. It's worth savouring them that way. Read more
n/a by NME Merging aquatic Americana that casts its net over the gang mentality of Arcade Fire, The Polyphonic Spree and Broken Social Scene – and that most über-overexposed of F-words, folk – its clear why Johnny Marr is touting the Californian throng as his new favourite band. Read more
n/a by www.guardian.co.uk They like wonky jangle that recalls Pavement, mumbling melancholy, and the odd rowdy singalong and flourish of violin. Then something happens: their songs start to snag, and their sharp, simple lyrics do justice to sentiment. Read more