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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
A Brief History Of Love

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 18 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 3 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: 4AD
Release Date: 22 September 2009
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rock, Indie
Summary
The British duo's debut full-length album was mixed by Rich Costey.
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
musicOMH.com
It has been a long wait for a British album like this, the kind that transcends age group appeal and inspires cool kids to form bands and geeky kids to lose themselves in music's history.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
A Brief History of Love is a study in the enormity of sound doing just that, each reverbed kick drum, phasers-on-stun guitar, and wastrel vocal refuting the idea that you need to talk about the passion to express it.
Read Full Review >The Guardian
A Brief History of Love is a dazzlingly good debut, carefully mixing guitars and electronics in densely layered and carefully textured songs.
Read Full Review >New Musical Express
It’s this ability that makes The Big Pink so special for, beneath the dissonance, the artful posturing and the pop hooks is something far more enduring: these guys have got a soul and they’re not afraid to bare it.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
What it lacks in orginality, it makes up for in sky-filling exhilaration. [Oct 2009, p.107]
Under The Radar
A Brief History Of Love is a gloriously suffocating maelstrom of bass, guitar, and electro beats. [Fall 2009, p.61]
Prefix Magazine
The Big Pink's A Brief History of Love is exactly the kind of album I wish had existed when I was 14. That's not a dig at the record; one of the more special things that a group can do musically is create a sound that appeals both to teenagers and adults.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
This makes for a solid and sporadically impressive debut that next time could maybe stand to step out of the studio and let the raw force of their music stand on its own.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
The lyrics feel a bit tossed off, but they don't get in the way--that wall of fuzz is good for something.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
A Brief History of Love is a strong, sometimes really, really good debut, and a nice addition to the shoegaze canon.
Read Full Review >Drowned In Sound
For an outfit who've been heralded as the industry's great white hopes of 2009, The Big Pink undoubtedly have several moments of pure genius here, but ultimately, A Brief History Of Love lacks the consistency to elevate it from the status of a good debut album to that of a great one.
Read Full Review >Sputnikmusic
The Big Pink’s A Brief History of Love will elicit a response of some kind. It’s just that kind of album.
Read Full Review >Uncut
There's nothing quite as forward looking here. [Oct 2009, p.102]
Mojo
A bleak and occasionally beautiful debut. [Oct 2009,p.102]
Dot Music
Its ambitions far exceed its ideas, and the record is sunk by the kind of sonic bloat normally reserved for self-regarding sophomore releases.
Read Full Review >Tiny Mix Tapes
A real carnival of a mess, completely inconsistent, sometimes really horrifying, and, more often than not, entertaining.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
