★★★★★
Ryder must have been in pain while writing, because angst and frustration are stamped on these lyrics and their delivery. "I'm tired of trying to make it up to you," she sings, with bite, on Sweeping the Ashes. She also employs themes like starting over (Little Bit of Red, Brand New Love), inability to love (Why Can't I Love You) and other variations on love lost, isolation, regret and personal darkness...
- www.hour.ca
2010-11-02
★★★★★
The best cover albums are those that give the listener fresh insight into the original songs. The new recordings illuminate hidden aspects of the material rather than just offer another version of the same old thing. There are plenty of good voices out there that can do more than competent renditions of classic tracks, but who needs another Rod Stewart cranking out the hits (one seems to be more than enough already)...
- www.popmatters.com
2009-03-22
★★★★★
With the standard-issue, off-center, extreme close-up of the album cover showing off the singer/songwriter's equally regulation-issue nose ring and lank hair, it's forgivable if one's first reaction to Serena Ryder's debut album is "Oh dear, not another Alanis Morissette clone." Learning that Ryder is a precocious 21-year-old from Ontario (as Morissette once was herself) doesn't exactly help, but prepare for a shock. Unlikely Emergency not only isn't awful, it's genuinely really good...
- music.aol.com
2008-08-27