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CRITIC REVIEWS
90
With her fantastic second album Giving the World Away, Hatchie offers a majestic and towering contrast, blending her influences and hitting a rich vein of knowing pop music with artistry, brimming with neon hooks, layered intricacy and self-aware, emotional depths, that you can return to again and again.
85
It’s a sumptuous album that plays to her strengths whilst allowing her to branch out as an artist and in doing so she is able to add more depth and texture to her iridescent soundscapes.
80
Harriette Pilbeam rebuilds her relationship with herself and expands her dream pop sound.
80
Lyrical depths and glossy warmth infuse the Australian’s lush second album.
80
By letting her existential anxieties take center stage, Hatchie embraces alt-pop sensibilities on Giving the World Away to process life and loss in all its messy glory.
80
The record sees Hatchie breaking away from the limits of her sweet but simple earliest songs and moving her sound on from dream pop drenched retro vibes into something that hits harder and is even more emotionally resonant.
80
Cinematic, sweeping dream-pop that evokes the longing of the Cranberries and melancholy of Cocteau Twins.
76
The Aussie indie-pop artist emerges with more confidence than ever on 2nd LP.
74
Giving The World Away doesn’t feel like a reboot so much as a payoff – it’s easily her most confident and rewarding work to date, the result of Pilbeam’s commitment to redefining her relationship with her music.
70
Like a pop princess reworking a Slowdive song, Giving the World Away shows Hatchie flaunting her ability to belt out a great chorus with a pedalboard at her feet. Perhaps she isn’t reinventing the wheel, but she still sounds more confident and catchy than ever before.
70
While it isn't quite as consistent as Keepsake, its finest moments are some of Hatchie's most exciting work.
70
Giving The World Away never seems entirely sure where it wants to stand, but at least it sounds good in its uncertainty.
70
Giving The World Away spins the all too familiar tales of coming-of-age gradually and overcoming obstacles, and it does so with assertiveness. It’s an album unafraid to break new ground, but not without holding onto Hatchie’s familiar musical personality.
67
The Australian dream-pop artist’s second album widens her sparkly shoegaze into a brasher, more ambitious sound, locating the edge between noise and melody.
66
Giving the World Away is a decent record with some excellent highlights, but also one that fails to live up to Hatchie’s potential. It’s somewhat frustrating, most of the time.
62
Hatchie wants to sound as massive as possible, with big-hearted melodies to match.
60
The best moment could be the melancholy beauty of St Etienne-style ballad “Sunday Song”, which benefits from a less fussy production and instead delivers Pilbeam’s exceptional voice without filter and true.
'Giving the World Away' is perhaps the most stunning shoegaze/dream pop record of the last few years. Hatchie is coming out with an album, that is enticing as all her records to date, transforming tunes into iconic pieces of music, even though she doesn't even have 30k followers on Instagram; By the way, why are people not connected to this artist as much as they should? I don't get it. From the emotional blizard of 'Keepsake' to this full lenght priceless album, the path she took is way more ... read more
Not doing a full on review for this one, but it’s absolutely great! Dazzling dream-pop with a very nostalgic 90s touch. The production is very ethereal with hints of shoegaze and dance pop, and Hatchie clearly has an amazing ear for melody, there are plenty of catchy tunes in here. I’d say the only thing that holds it back from being truly amazing is the fact that it’s not super original and the more lowkey moments didn’t do much for me, but the overall atmosphere that ... read more
Yeah it's very nice! I wasn't sure about this one because shoegaze isn't a genre I typically enjoy too much but this beat my expectations. Very satisfying listen.
TOP 3 SONS: Quicksand, The Rhythm, Giving The World Away
Hatchie, what a record! With its ups and downs, you have made a memorable LP that I would absolutely go back to (and did) when driving at night through the interstate, appreciating the somber view of lighted-up buildings and the serene sound of tires dashing against the concrete.
I think the main holdback of this album is some of the production. The momentum of some incredible songs isn't followed all of the time, which brought my listening experience down a lot. I am someone who runs on flow, ... read more
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Track List
| 1 | Lights On 3:56 | 87 |
| 2 | This Enchanted 3:53 | 87 |
| 3 | Twin 4:05 | 79 |
| 4 | Take My Hand 4:15 | 79 |
| 5 | The Rhythm 4:30 | 82 |
| 6 | Quicksand 4:12 | 88 |
| 7 | Thinking Of 2:04 | 73 |
| 8 | Giving the World Away 4:45 | 79 |
| 9 | The Key 4:14 | 82 |
| 10 | Don't Leave Me In the Rain 4:16 | 80 |
| 11 | Sunday Song 3:47 | 77 |
| 12 | Til We Run Out of Air 5:43 | 83 |
Total Length: 49 minutes
Year End Lists
| #2 | / | God Is In The TV |
| #16 | / | Under the Radar |
| #42 | / | The Alternative |
| #52 | / | PopMatters |
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2w
i wish that i had listened to this when it came out bc i might retroactively make til we run out of air my 2022 soty
1mo
Kinda wish the writing was stronger on here, her voice & the production are both really really good
Added on: January 19, 2022