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Critic Reviews
92
While Torres’ self-titled 2013 debut was a hushed affair—even the loud bits came in gradual, measured bursts—Sprinter crackles and explodes, with a dynamic range that’d make Steve Albini blush.
11y
91
Life has grown more complicated than running to or running from, and as Torres, Scott is better equipped than ever to shed light on the details.
11y
90
Voice, both the sound that emanates from vocal cords and the perspective from which songs are written, is what’s been honed on Torres’s second album Sprinter.
11y
90
This album is a vital listen: Scott’s unrestrained emotion, godly technical prowess and a natural gift for just great songwriting make it one of the finest of 2015 so far.
11y
85
The captivating character of this record comes from her skill as a songwriter to be both fragile in her insecurities while taking everything in her stride. Sprinter is a vital album.
11y
83
The only resource Mackenzie Scott needs to make a beautiful song and tell a cathartic story is herself.
11y
80
‘Sprinter’ is a bruising, brilliant record from a singular talent. It won’t soothe or placate. It’s all teeth.
11y
80
If Torres felt naked and pared back, this record is ambitious and multi-faceted, sometimes a thing of quiet, folksy restraint, but as likely to dive into a watery sonic netherworld, or strap on some grungy dynamics to get its kicks.
10y
80
Here, the formulaic country sound of her Georgia roots is given a minimal futuristic makeover, which sets the direction for what would make a game-changing third LP.
11y
80
Although Sprinter is a singular vision, it won't help rid her of the PJ Harvey comparisons, proving Torres to be musician unafraid of comparison, but even less afraid of compromise.
11y
80
The sound is like a gauze bandage covering the emotional wounds, the profound isolation and fear of abandonment, that sit at the heart of Sprinter. But Scott lets a little red bleed through nonetheless, and for listeners, at least, that's a good thing.
11y
80
These are songs that mostly get to the heart of the matter with open-hearted directness, and in balancing the coarse with the refined there’s a clearer sense of what Scott wants to find even if she struggles to understand the conditions that affect her most deeply.
11y
80
This record finds Scott facing her own darkness down with poise and poetry.
11y
80
Sprinter is devastatingly beautiful collection that’s among the year’s very best so far.
11y
80
She may not have made a fully realized masterpiece yet, but she’s staking-out the place between noise and silence where a masterpiece will be built.
11y
70
Singer-songwriter Mackenzie Scott (a.k.a. Torres) detangles years of spiritual unrest on her stirring second album.
11y
70
Whether Sprinter is the arrival of a young, fearless, emotionally forthright, and intense writer and vocalist or a no-holds-barred attempt to make waves that ultimately tries too hard is up to whether listeners find her believable, and Scott pushes those boundaries and buttons on this record.
11y
60
Scott is at her best on Sprinter when she loosens the reins and lets her musical roots coalesce with her newer preferred sounds in smaller, more subtle ways.
11y
60
If the lyrics are revealing and off-kilter, the music is not always so.
10y
50
Sprinter comes out strong with some great singles, but loses steam fast in its second third.
8y
Not a cliche confessional. Interesting concept for an album that mixes in themes like the faults of organized religion on a family unit, adoption and struggling with the past to be who you are in the future. The album flows from loud to soft, from dark to promising with ease. Gets a little slow in the later part of the album but the last song, "The Exchange" makes up for that with a haunting finish. Overall, I'd be surprised to not see this on a lot of top album lists for 2015 by ... read more
Sprinter isn't the most popular album of the 10's despite being a full package. In many professional reviews, I find it pretty unfair to just relagate Torres has a "PJ Harvey revival". Their common point is a relish for sharp songs but that's it. The way they sing, they write and play is radically different.
Beginning with Strange Hellos, the best track of the album, Torres asserts her taste for angry songs, musically and lyrically (she litteraly screams at the end). She is intense ... read more
*shamelessly reposting a review I wrote for this album in college - mostly hold the same opinions now, maybe slightly diminished*
In an interview for now-defunct talk show Q, violinist and singer Owen Pallett expressed his discomfort with the terms “confessional” and “cathartic” being applied to his records. “I just feel as if these are words that tend to apply to people who aren’t straight men,” he vented, “There’s the connotation of ... read more
🤠🎡🏃🏻
Strange Hellos: 9
New Skin: 7,5
Son, You Are No Island: 7
A Proper Polish Welcome: 8
Sprinter: 9
Cowboy Guilt: 6,5
Ferris Wheel: 7
The Harshest Light: 7
The Exchange: 6,5
Sprinter isn't the most popular album of the 10's despite being a full package. In many professional reviews, I find it pretty unfair to just relagate Torres has a "PJ Harvey revival". Their common point is a relish for sharp songs but that's it. The way they sing, they write and play is radically different.
Beginning with Strange Hellos, the best track of the album, Torres asserts her taste for angry songs, musically and lyrically (she litteraly screams at the end). She is intense ... read more
*shamelessly reposting a review I wrote for this album in college - mostly hold the same opinions now, maybe slightly diminished*
In an interview for now-defunct talk show Q, violinist and singer Owen Pallett expressed his discomfort with the terms “confessional” and “cathartic” being applied to his records. “I just feel as if these are words that tend to apply to people who aren’t straight men,” he vented, “There’s the connotation of ... read more
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Track List
| 1 | Strange Hellos 3:55 | 84 |
| 2 | New Skin 5:16 | 85 |
| 3 | Son, You Are No Island 4:28 | 77 |
| 4 | A Proper Polish Welcome 5:04 | 81 |
| 5 | Sprinter 4:44 | 86 |
| 6 | Cowboy Guilt 2:49 | 78 |
| 7 | Ferris Wheel 7:01 | 76 |
| 8 | The Harshest Light 4:07 | 78 |
| 9 | The Exchange 7:48 | 75 |
Total Length: 45 minutes
Year End Lists
| #2 | / | American Songwriter |
| #10 | / | A.V. Club |
| #12 | / | Consequence of Sound |
| #15 | / | Paste |
| #17 | / | No Ripcord |
| #19 | / | Newsweek |
| #28 | / | Pretty Much Amazing |
| #30 | / | Diffuser |
| #35 | / | PopMatters |
| #40 | / | Treble |
| #50 | / | Under the Radar |
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