Eric Bachmann
Eric Bachmann
Release Date: Mar 25, 2016
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Rock, Alternative Singer/Songwriter
Record label: Merge
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Album Review: Eric Bachmann by Eric Bachmann
Great, Based on 8 Critics
Based on rating 8.5/10
Throughout his 25-year music career, Eric Bachmann’s lyrics have progressively grown more personal and poignant. From the angst-fueled outsider anthems of Archers of Loaf to the hushed, expressive fragility of Barry Black and Crooked Fingers, Bachmann has gradually revealed more of himself with each successive album, growing more comfortable with sharing his emotional vulnerability with his audience. On his new self-titled solo album, Bachmann offers up his most heartfelt, genuine collection yet, as his penetrating, thoughtful lyrics take honest stock of what he’s learned from his circuitous musical journey and how he feels about his place in this fractious world.
Based on rating 4/5
Best known as the frontman of noisy 90s Chapel Hill alt-rockers Archers Of Loaf, Eric Bachmann has also been making music under the name Crooked Fingers and as a solo artist. This eponymous record marks the dissolution of the former in favour of the latter once again (while Archers Of Loaf reformed in 2011, they’ve yet to record any new material), bearing little resemblance to anything Bachmann made with that band. Rather, these nine largely piano-based songs are sumptuous yet graceful compositions that re-establish Bachmann as a truly exceptional songwriter.
Based on rating 8/10
Eric Bachmann wrote the single most memorable opening line of the ‘90s: “Stuck a pin in your backbone / Spoke it down from there / All I ever wanted was to be your spine.” What followed was “Web in Front”, just over two minutes of inexhaustible melodies and hooks that ultimately indemnified Archers of Loaf’s status in the nascent stages of indie rock lore. Inadequately compared to Pavement, Archers of Loaf wrote songs in the key of noise and strange tunings, Archers of Loaf contrasted Pavement’s smug, ironic swagger. They were relatable despite their funny name.
Based on rating 8/10
North Carolina singer/songwriter Eric Bachmann closes the book on his long-running Crooked Fingers project and marks a new era with his self-titled third solo LP. In truth, Crooked Fingers was essentially a post-Archers of Loaf solo vehicle, and with each of its six albums, it tended to take on whatever flavors Bachmann was exploring at the time. Of the two existing efforts under his own name, only 2006's sparsely appointed To the Races really bears the intimate stamp of a solo album, with the other -- 2002's Short Careers -- being an entirely instrumental soundtrack to an independent film.
Based on rating 7.5/10
Eric Bachmann broke out on the scene as the front man for North Carolina's Archers of Loaf. Twenty-five years later and he is ready for his true self to shine through. On March 25th, Eric Bachmann released a self-titled album solo album. While he had a previous solo project under the moniker Crooked Fingers, this is his first work where his name alone represents the project.
Based on rating 7.2/10
Eric Bachmann and his longtime label Merge Records would have us believe that the Archers of Loaf frontman's first new album in five years is a radical reinvention. The truth is far less dramatic. The forty-something singer-songwriter can't really escape himself or the raw, unaffected sound, gruffly melodic vocals, and pointed lyrical approach that he adopted in the early ’00s when he started recording as Crooked Fingers.
Based on rating 6.5/10
Former Archers of Loaf and Crooked Fingers frontman, Eric Bachmann's self-titled album is a personal, moving compilation about life and love with a slight Southern bent. The veteran indie musician has proclaimed his a "wandering lifestyle," which the nine tracks on the album reflect. They are varied, introspective, and primed for repeat listening. (www.ericbachmann.com) .
Opinion: Excellent
Eric Bachmann is a songwriter and musician of three distinct voices, having guided Archers Of Loaf and Crooked Fingers, and now, on his second solo album, turning over a new page once again. A decade after his first solo album, the spare, acoustic To The Races, and five years since the final Crooked Fingers album, Bachmann turns to the piano for a mellow but lyrically forceful batch of nine songs. Bachmann’s latest solo album isn’t nearly as much a turn from Crooked Fingers as that project was from Archers Of Loaf, but neither is this latest shift merely a difference in arrangements.
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