A truly great record, and also a tremendously hopeful one.  Full text...

For the most part this is the sound of an emotionally intelligent, bruised but positive bunch of young men returning from an awful and potentially career destroying tragedy with a beautiful and fitting sophomore effort.  Full text...

Like The Lost Riots, Left is a political album, discussing the war in Iraq, unemployment and government, but the sound is tighter and the message less pushy, allowing the music to shine through.  Full text...

A record that inches towards the mainstream with those sell-able, but now over familiar elements pushed to the fore - big choruses, vague, universal sentiments, blah de blah de blah.   Full text...

It's more consistently listenable than their previous album but lacks the depth and subtlety to make Hope of the States stand out from the now masses of other darkwave indie types.  Full text...

'Left' is a leaner work then its predecessor - and one in which the wide-eyed enchantment is restricted to just a handful of tracks.  Full text...

The Chichester sextet have forgotten that these approaches have the potential to be pompous and banal, so too much of their second album comprises leaden rock saturated in 24-piece orchestration and aimless guitar feedback.   Full text...

Left is an album in which few songs go unmolested by Rent-An-Orchestra (The Good Fight is a blatant bid to fill the air with glowing Nokias), and a potentially charming ballad such as The Church Choir is fattened like a foie-gras goose. The shortest song, an urgent protest-rocker called Industry, has a bite that accentuates just how pompous and banal the rest of Left is.  Full text...