"Hansard's wounded Cat Stevens-esque cadence serves as an excellent bad news delivery system, especially on the sparse piano- and string-laden "The Storm, It's Coming" and the tense, brooding opener "You Will Become," but even the upbeat "Love Don't Leave Me Waiting," with its mid-'70s, blue-eyed soul shuffle and shimmery, Spanish guitar noodling, feels rooted in sleepless, pre-dawn anxiety".