The Low Anthem - Smart Flesh

The Observer“A worthy follow-up...” The big wow here is the sound: the album was recorded in an old factory with mics spaced out across the floor, giving the songs remarkable warmth...

The Telegraph“Today’s young masters of Americana...” Sounds wonderfully resonant, taking Fleet Foxes’ churchy vibe to its logical conclusion, while finding room, too, for a couple of red-blooded blues rock numbers. These exquisitely voiced musings on love, healing and mortality really hit the spot...

Clash Music“This is the human condition set to music...” The sonic experimentation shouldn’t detract from the raw tales of love and loss that make up the lyrics and ‘I’ll Take Out Your Ashes’ is as lip-tremblingly emotive as its title suggests. Joyous, pensive, cathartic and hymnal in equal measure

BBC“A little too atonal to be described as a classic...” Fans of Oh My God, Charlie Darwin may be disappointed by just how well Smart Flesh hangs together, and there is certainly an argument to be had here about whether this more unified sound is a little too predictable, a little too easy...

MusicOMH“The words used are a reliable source of pleasure throughout...” The most animation - a kind of passion and anger - can be heard on 9/11 track Boeing 737. Here we hear, perhaps for the only time on the album, some real and vivid urgency. It suits them...

The Independent“Reminds one of what albums can offer that no other format can match...” The cavernous reverb undoubtedly lends an extra weary poignancy to the crepuscular woodwind instrumental "Wire". Now expanded to a quartet, The Low Anthem's textural palette is broader than ever on Smart Flesh...

Guardian“At heart this is a dustily traditional collection of folk songs...” As bewitching as it is chilling, steeping Ghost Woman Blues and Wire in melancholy, and giving the album the atmospheric cohesion that its predecessor, 2009's Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, seemed to lack...