Are You Alone?

Majical Cloudz - Are You Alone?
Critic Score
Based on 23 reviews
2015 Ratings: #206 / 1021
User Score
Based on 157 ratings
2015 Rank: #210
Liked by 3 people
October 16, 2015 / Release Date
LP / Format
Matador / Label
Ambient Pop / Genre
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CRITIC REVIEWS

90
AllMusic

On Are You Alone?, Majical Cloudz pick up where the exceptionally beautiful Impersonator left off two years prior, and issue more sparse arrangements of hypnotic, minor-key electronics under plaintive cries and intimate observations, like a subdued, post-apocalyptic offspring of the Blue Nile.

90
The 405
While many will still dismiss them for being unexciting, there will be many people out there that forge a strong connection with their music; people who need this album to make them feel comfort, to make them feel companionship, to help them accept themselves and, ultimately, to make them feel less alone.
83
Consequence of Sound

With Are You Alone?, Devon Welsh and Majical Cloudz find a way to exist within that gray, to thrive in it, to acknowledge the mortality and the chaos and the gray, and reach out a hand.

80
Drowned in Sound
If you're not interested in music that makes you feel reflective then perhaps steer clear, otherwise this is a stark, brutally honest exploration of the human psyche that is indeed special.
80
NOW Magazine

A record of gutsy, bare-bones, emotionally charged synth hymns.

80
The Guardian
The overall effect is of a bow-tied cabaret crooner singing to no one: awkwardly intense but, if you steal a glance, completely beguiling.
80
Exclaim!

Are You Alone? is warm and inviting, the moment where a band sound less like they're performing intimacy, honesty and sincerity than they are, simply, being intimate, honest and sincere.

80
The Line of Best Fit
With a slight expansion in sound, but yet with the core DNA of their sonic aesthetic intact, they present a musical novella of love and loneliness that aims (tastefully) for the heart and the big time.
80
DIY
By stripping back the band’s sound even further than ‘Impersonator’ showed, Devon Welsh has opened himself up to a point where everything he is and has been is given to ‘Are You Alone?’, resulting in a listen that encourages looking inwards and coming to the kind of realisations Welsh himself has poured into the album, a record it’s impossible not to be swept up by.
80
Under the Radar

Are You Alone? extends some of the same sounds of Magical Cloudz's debut album, Impersonator, but the music seems stretched and more expansive.

80
No Ripcord

Never does it wallow or feel desperate, and instead takes a soulful, Michael Hutchence-like approach of tugging at the heartstrings with passionate, swooning sincerity.

80
SPIN
In their own quiet way, these are confrontational songs; not in the sense that they’re classically aggressive, but because they’re so probing and straightforward.
80
Pitchfork

The band ... seem to have figured out how to broaden their sound while softening it at the same time, all without losing the detonating high that made Impersonator so remarkable.

70
Rolling Stone
His ability to pack the simplest sentiments with layers of uncertainty makes him a pop act worth rooting for.
70
Billboard
It’s evocative and vivid, recalling early Red House Painters, or even The Blue Nile.
67
Pretty Much Amazing

The album is ultimately almost too polished, too clean for all of the messy emotions hiding underneath. There are so many moments when the music seems on the verge of exploding, but never does, and that’s ultimately to the album’s detriment.

60
The Skinny

While Are You Alone? doesn't show a great deal of additional range in his wheelhouse, though wingman Matthew Otto takes a defter touch in its production. Hell, it's even uplifting in parts.

ShoegazeJake
100

Earnest, blunt, deep, and substantive.

usedtobe
82

The last would always be the best, and this record, regarded as their swan song is a stark, lyrically rich ode to love and its ruminations. Sparse yet emotionally rich, this would delight art pop fans for its themes and cohesive flow. Downtown was such a great song to fell in love with.

Woodyinho64
73

I've known about the song "Downtown" for many years at this point. Decided to give the full album it came from a listen.
It's certainly still the main highlight of this project. While the second half is more consistant, nothing clicks like the mentioned track. Game Show is another (Smaller) highlight of this record.

1Spooked0gHosT7
81

We are together. One already there.

Woodyinho64
73

I've known about the song "Downtown" for many years at this point. Decided to give the full album it came from a listen.
It's certainly still the main highlight of this project. While the second half is more consistant, nothing clicks like the mentioned track. Game Show is another (Smaller) highlight of this record.

doesitsuck
20

Some seriously tedious shit.

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Track List

1Disappeared
3:45
2Control
3:21
3Are You Alone?
3:50
4So Blue
3:49
5Heavy
3:29
6Silver Car Crash
3:30
7Change
4:06
8If You're Lonely
3:40
9Downtown
4:09
10Easier Said Than Done
2:47
11Game Show
3:19
12Call On Me
3:47
Total Length: 43 minutes
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Added on: August 12, 2015