Former things

"When [Lonelady] returns every half-decade or so, it's with something meaningful and beautifully crafted ... Though six years lie between it and her previous full-length Hinterland, Former Things is so immediately gripping that it feels like the blink of an eye. "The Catcher" begins the album by proving that her dance-punk is as spine-tinglingly taut as it was when she introduced it on 2010's Nerve Up ... Immersing herself completely in the electronics that crept into her sound on Hinterland, Campbell nods to Cybotron and Neneh Cherry with crisp textures and restless beats that capture a bustling city (or dancefloor) with the same vividness her previous albums evoked desolate urban ruins ... Both economical and richly evocative, Former Things is as brilliant and sharp as a diamond -- and it's the first LoneLady album that could honestly be described as fun".

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"Manchester post-punk musician Julie Campbell's third album is dense with possibilities, whiplashing between past and future. The maximalism isn't big-picture, but granular: busy, hyperreal instants by the millions ... Originally envisioned as a techno album and recorded on vintage synths, Former Things is packed with Campbell's busy, weaponized arrangements. The lyrics, too, are deliberate and dense-she's one of those uncommon songwriters whose words work equally well on paper".

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"Talented Mancunian goes old-school on outstanding third: Julie Campbell's successor to 2015's "Hinterland" follows the trail left by the latter's "Groove It Out" into the dance-heavy electro-funk of the early-to-mid-'80s ... The results are spectacular, as Campbell's R&B vocals plot a course over convulsive rhythms that recall Cabaret Voltaire (...), New York groove trio Warp 9 and Arthur Baker's work with New Order".