One Part Lullaby

Q - 4 stars out of 5 - "...ONE PART LULLABY's chugging, folk/soul interface and tagged-on beats has a more natural flow than before, and the sugar-coated lilt to 'Free To Go' and 'Someone To Love' sounds ripe for commercial battle..." Mojo - "...the most fully-realized thing they've ever done....a brilliant collection of cracking songs that set ingenious, engaging, wise words amongst chiming guitars and chunky beats..." Spin - 8 out of 10 - "...infuses tape-loop rhythms and shifting aural textures with fragments of upbeat emotion...[Folk Implosion] transform indie rock into a private ceremony performed in a slightly creepy artificial paradise..." Alternative Press - 4 out of 5 - "...full of big, thumping beats and even bigger melodies. Everything here grooves....one of 1999's most enticing records." Entertainment Weekly - "...Mixing samples and loop-driven grooves with lush psychedelia and poker-faced irony, [Lou] Barlow and partner John Davis conjure a faux-naive summer-of-love vibe that's arch and seductive..." - Rating: A- Spin (9/99, pp.185-6) - 8 out of 10 - "...infuses tape-loop rhythms and shifting aural textures with fragments of upbeat emotion...[Folk Implosion] transform indie rock into a private ceremony performed in a slightly creepy artificial paradise..." Q (11/99, p.120) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...ONE PART LULLABY's chugging, folk/soul interface and tagged-on beats has a more natural flow than before, and the sugar-coated lilt to 'Free To Go' and 'Someone To Love' sounds ripe for commercial battle..." Alternative Press (10/99, pp.89-90) - 4 out of 5 - "...full of big, thumping beats and even bigger melodies. Everything here grooves....one of 1999's most enticing records." Mojo (12/99, p.123) - "...the most fully-realized thing they've ever done....a brilliant collection of cracking songs that set ingenious, engaging, wise words amongst chiming guitars and chunky beats..." Entertainment Weekly (10/8/99, pp.72-3) - "...Mixing samples and loop-driven grooves with lush psychedelia and poker-faced irony, [Lou] Barlow and partner John Davis conjure a faux-naive summer-of-love vibe that's arch and seductive..." - Rating: A-

The Folk Implosion (a wry twist on "Blues Explosion") sounds neither like the fey folk-pop of John Davis nor like the abrasive dissonance of Lou Barlow's other band, Sebadoh. On "One Part Lullaby", Folk Implosion dives deep into the art of the overdub and comes up with some smooth polished pearls of pop. Vocals are layered on as thick as on any Janet Jackson disc, and songs slide unselfconsciously between major and minor modes. A veritable toy box of instruments (including omnichord, tuned drinking glasses, and a psaltery) was enlisted in service of the lush sound, helping bring about an album that is a far cry from the strident tones of the group's first disc.|