"On their ninth album, the sense of crisis in Newman's songwriting is reflected in a more subdued musical tone (...), making for an LP that delivers its vivid emotional payoff in subtle gestures. . That doesn't mean there aren't big, splashy songs here ... Mostly, though, the mood has changed. Hot guitar charge takes a backseat to studio pastiche, a wistful saxophone shows up prominently, and the tempos tend toward the reflectively drifty. The results can be magisterial: "Last and Beautiful" has a lush, slo-mo grandeur, and on the lavishly pretty "Cat and Mouse With the Light," dappled electronics combine with a graceful jazz-folk melody to suggest 1960s Van Morrison playing a 1990s chillout room, as co-singer Neko Case turns the awkward chorus "It's like I can't stand that you love me" into sweet, surreptitious poetry".