Details
LP / Format
4AD / Label
Experimental, Post-Industrial
Dark Ambient
, Experimental Rock
, Modern Classical
, Musique Concrète
/ GenreFull Credits
Sign In to rate and review
Critic Reviews
100
This is out in the margins, removed from 'pop' and 'alternative' genres by the scale of its reach, its bloody and bold ambition. It is complex, multilayered, densely plotted, wordy. It's also scary, harsh and bruised.
15y
100
Despite its complexity, every twist and turn of The Drift is absolutely compelling.
7y
100
The Drift is a record that demands a lot of work and repays tenfold.
11y
100
It’s sufficiently silly and unlistenable to have you screaming that the emperor is wearing no clothes, but it’s also one of the most compelling, exhausting and harrowingly beautiful records you’ll ever hear.
6y
100
Walker has gone as far into the atmosphere as one can travel while still being earthbound.
Print Only
3y
91
It's unlikely that any other album will sound much like The Drift this year, and even less likely that it could be forgotten if heard even once.
12y
90
Even at its most dissonant and abstract, this record is human to the core, and if you're ready to face a few demons, it's as inspiring as music gets.
15y
90
The Drift — in all its nightmarish, bloody glory — is as bold and profound a comment on our times as has emerged so far this century. Essential listening.
15y
90
The Drift isn't an equally severe leap from Tilt, but it is darker, less arranged, alternately more and less dense, and ultimately more frightening.
12y
90
Sixty-three year old men just aren’t supposed to make records like this. Take a deep breath and dive in.
6y
80
Although boldly experimental in form, it is surprisingly confessional in spirit, effortlessly encompassing the political and the personal with the poetic to create a song cycle of extraordinary power and intensity.
4y
80
The most elaborately impenetrable album we're likely to hear this decade.
7y
80
A record that makes the tortured beauty of Tilt appear like a mildly resigned shrug.
Print Only
3y
80
This is a record that genuinely sounds like nothing you have heard before. If you can rise to its portentous challenge, if you can meet it even close to halfway, The Drift will prove to be a frightening, bewitching and rewarding experience.
10y
80
The album is powerful stuff, and though it's unlikely to be heard by many, it's even more unlikely to be forgotten by those who do hear it.
10y
80
This is a beautiful nightmare with no referent in pop and few in recorded-music history.
Print Only
2y
80
Every bit as stark, foreboding, but utterly singular as 'Tilt'.
Print Only
3y
71
Those who lovingly caress their copies of Tilt have probably already jumped in its trenches, liking what there is to like, and there is much to like about this album, even if it doesn’t maintain the consistency of that masterpiece; those who find his voice annoying have already set up sniper posts across the field; everybody else is standing in the middle wondering what the fuss is about. The Drift won’t change that.
11y
60
Maybe, despite all the apparent melancholia, Scott's having a little chuckle to himself.
4y
50
This new album is relentlessly dark, disjointed, and disturbing. While there exist elements of his pop past — gorgeous string sections, delicate guitars, bombastic drums — there's nothing like a song here.
15y
40
It doesn't matter how much you admire the old cove's irascibility ... the fact is that much of 'The Drift' is little better than highbrow aural torture.
12y
40
It could be high art. It could be utter bollocks. Either way, it's lovely when it's over.
Print Only
3y
"THE HORROR SHOW" (PART. 6/13)
Are you ready to have nightmares all night?
In the little game of interpretations, the cover of "The Drift" already represents a frightening curiosity: a photograph of an unknown, fascinating and disturbing planetary ground, the contours of a monstrous creature emerging from the depths of the night or a metaphorical representation of the worst horrors hidden in our unconscious? Probably all three at once....
"Oh ye who enter here, ... read more
A bit too outlandish even though i really enjoyed the sound palette, im confused overall, I'll have to relisten
Yeah I prefer this album more than The Tilt.
Scott Walker is slowly becoming one of my favourite singer-songwriter of all time.
His songwriting is very entertaining and gives a lot to the listeners.
While Scott Walker entire career is kinda spotty. He started out very strong with his 60s baroque pop releases with an ominous and playful characteristics I prefer his experimental works more because its way more entertaining listening to it. Took me a while getting into his experimental works, but ... read more
One of the most insane changes in direction I've ever seen from an artist. 'The Drift' picks up right where 'Tilt' left off, but its disturbing nature is more involved, more unsettling, and all the more impossible to turn away from as it unfolds.
Absolutely batshit fucking insane...
and it's fucking amazing. Scott Walker's first album with 4AD records brings an off-the-walls insane experimental musique concrète/dark ambient album with the most random and unpredictable sounds. It's dark, disturbing and unapologetic. In his previous album "Tilt", there were moments of clarity and serene beauty but "The Drift" strips all that away for an avant-garde sound. This isn't really an album of ... read more
Tags
Contributions By
patton, thisisabtlgrnd, philthy, Alejandro González, erik, MarkyC, OPENblinds, ElementyFireBecome a Subscriber
Subscriber badge, no ads + more benefits.
Subscriber badge, no ads + more benefits.
Advertisement
Track List
| 1 | Cossacks Are 4:32 | 89 |
| 2 | Clara 12:43 | 94 |
| 3 | Jesse 6:28 | 89 |
| 4 | Jolson and Jones 7:45 | 91 |
| 5 | Cue 10:27 | 90 |
| 6 | Hand Me Ups 5:49 | 88 |
| 7 | Buzzers 6:39 | 82 |
| 8 | Psoriatic 5:51 | 86 |
| 9 | The Escape 5:18 | 87 |
| 10 | A Lover Loves 3:11 | 82 |
Total Length: 1 hour, 8 minutes
Sign in to comment
