I’ve written this review five times, trying to figure out why I’m the only critic I know who still likes Gomez. I honestly can’t figure it out; the band is interested in every kind of music under the sun, weaving psychedelic rock and country and Britpop and skiffle and R&B and blues into their songs, and have three intelligent (and very different) songwriters who riff on everything from politics and love to songwriting and alienation. They haven’t gotten the time of day since their debut album won the Mercury Music Prize in 1998.
I have theories about why this has happened, but they are boring and wrong. I know a lot of fashionable and eminent writers who think Gomez stinks, and on the other side, it’s just me, and the truth. So when I say this is a really great album, take it with a grain of salt, but know I’m right and everyone who disagrees is wrong.