★★★★★
The career of Montreal multi-instrumentalist Patrick Watson has endured its share of ups and downs. On the upside, his sophomore album, 2006's Close to Paradise, won the inaugural Polaris Prize, which surprised quite a few Canadian music industry observers, and placed him and his band in the same lauded plateau as future winners Fucked Up, Owen Pallett (as Final Fantasy) and Arcade Fire. There have been setbacks, too, though...
- www.popmatters.com
2012-05-31
★★★★★
A national treasure in his Canadian homeland, Patrick Watson (the man and the band of the same name) is mainly notable here for his Close To Paradise album pipping Arcade Fire and Feist to the Polaris Music Prize, Canada's answer to the Mercury or Choice, in 2007...
- www.state.ie
2012-05-28
★★★★★
It?s difficult?no...impossible?to escape the Jeff Buckley comparisons when listening to Patrick Watson?s new Adventures in Your Own Backyard album. This talented Canadian group/singer creates ethereal chamber pop music, much like Buckley did, mixed in with folk strains, while singing pretty songs in a high and beautiful voice. It?s a little confusing because the leader?s name is also the group?s name. Once you get past that, though, you?re in for some mighty creative music...
- www.music-news.com
2012-05-21
★★★★★
Patrick Watson is one of those musicians whose work, on paper, sounds like genius. Andrew Bird at his most intricate (though, importantly, not necessarily his best) comes to mind readily enough, and as it happens, Watson and Bird are touring together as we speak. They share a classical musical education (piano and violin, respectively) and a deft sense of composition, of fusing orchestration with accessible structures - those skills that define the best writers of so-called chamber pop...
- www.prefixmag.com
2012-05-17
★★★★★
Canadian singer-songwriter Patrick Watson released what is surely the best album (so far) of 2012, Adventures In Your Own Backyard. Soul crooner meets Jeff Buckley, Watsons' music is a backdrop to the grainy road footage of our mind. Adventures In Your Own Backyard is his fourth album, released on April 16th through Secret City/Domino Records. The 13 songs off the record create a tense and powerful listening experience...
- www.adequacy.net
2012-05-14
★★★★★
Something of a star in his Canadian homeland after winning the 2007 Polaris Prize - the country's equivalent of the Mercury Prize - for his second album, Close to Paradise, and nearly repeating the feat two years later with his third, Wooden Arms, Montreal-based makes a bid for similar acclaim in the UK with the release of his first for Domino Records...
- www.bbc.co.uk
2013-04-23
★★★★★
Goto commentsLeave a commentShare A Quiet Symphony 2011 has seen some solo releases utilizing similar techniques: simple songs with lush, vibrant arrangements. Cass McCombs and James Blake meshed their distinct, subtle vocal styles with such well-crafted instrumentation, it's no wonder Canadian singer-songwriter, Patrick Watson followed suit. Adventures In Your Own Backyard is charged with chilling, almost exciting tracks perfect for winding down in the summer...
- www.mxdwn.com
2012-05-10
★★★★★
If Jeff Buckley had been given the time to shine more of his jazz, off-kilter leanings, the late singer-songwriter might have sounded like the brave, bold Patrick Watson does at this moment. Not that the Canadian Watson and his stalwart ensemble (bassist Mishka Stein, guitarist Simon Angell, drummer Robbie Kuster) bebop until they drop--there's simply a gentle swing to Watson's woeful, unavoidably Buckley-esque warble, containing an epic elegance worthy of the most intimate of adventures.
- filtermagazine.com
2012-05-07
★★★★★
In 2007, Montreal's Patrick Watson surprised many when his second full length, Close to Paradise, won the Polaris Music Prize beating the likes of Arcade Fire, Feist and Chad VanGaalen. Surprised probably isn't the right word though. No, 'bewitched' is perhaps more suitable. Watson's practically made his it trademark enchanting the aforementioned Paradise and his last album Wooden Arms with magical sounds not too dissimilar from Antony and the Johnsons, Grizzly Bear and Wainwright...
- drownedinsound.com
2012-05-03
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