Look Now bounces with unforced, uncluttered and cleverly fleshed vivacity, every song a cherishable gem.
As a collection of tunes, Look Now is a triumph for Costello, a showcase for how he can enliven a mastery of form with a dramatist’s eye. But as an album, Look Now is a success because of the Imposters.
This is high-pedigree pop-soul in the style of Costello's 1982 song Tears Before Bedtime ... Costello's lyrics are subtle, penetrating and often written from a woman's perspective.
Costello’s peerless lyricism often mirrors his tone, and here it’s suitably refined.
Costello ... never lets any genre predominate, sometimes shifting the overarching mood several times within a single song to follow the emotional content of the narratives.
If you're in the mood for a set of world-class songs dealing with grown-up themes and performed with nuance and a master's touch, you could hardly do better.
His ability to shape-shift in and out of genres wide and far still gives his new material a bit of intrigue. Look Now is another solid entry into an already healthy and vital body of work.
On Look Now, Costello possesses the wisdom and perspective to acknowledge the passage of time by only cherry-picking those pieces of his past that still suit him.
Costello’s his first new album in five years finds him squaring his restless artistic impulses with his storied past.
At its best, Look Now – Costello’s 31st album – comes freighted with vivid feeling as well as sophisticated instrumentation and arrangements.
Absolutely destroys this year's other crooner-ific reinvention - Arctic Monkeys’ Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino'.
Similarly 'Young Americans'/'Station to Station' period Bowie is a HUGE influence, only here Costello brings enough of his own talents to make certain these songs never skirt anywhere close to mere pastiche.
A welcome return with plenty of artistic highs. I really like the sound of Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter, Unwanted Number, Why Won't Heaven Help Me? and others.
#11 | / | OOR |
#15 | / | Uncut |
#19 | / | Entertainment Weekly |
#23 | / | FLOOD |
#23 | / | Paste |
#24 | / | Q Magazine |
#26 | / | MOJO |
#35 | / | Rolling Stone |
#43 | / | Consequence of Sound |
#75 | / | Fopp |