"Four black female banjo players wrestling with gender, race, slavery, sexual assault and the domination of the male gaze might make an admirable-if-arduous prospect, but this new collaboration proves by turns a proud, devastating, authoritative album made for our bewildering times ... Frequently there is something deeply rousing in hearing these four female voices butt up against one another, weave around, stand aside, make space. Likewise their banjo-playing styles, which run from the five-string and tenor to the early fretless minstrel incarnation chosen by Giddens, serve as a reminder of the variation and nuance of an instrument somewhat besmirched by the new-folk scene ... A record of great importance and exceptional beauty, its darker moments countered by points of bright wonder".