Cambridge's most famous recipients of relentless critical acclaim
Time Out
- Leaps
- Love Your Man, Love Your Woman
- Hello Love
- Balls
- Welcome Home, Loser
- Jesus Songs
- Cold Water Songs
- The King Will Build A Disco
LEAPS [See Video]
...could only be more lovely if it was the theme from The Littlest Hobo.
NME
A wonderfully frisky feel good cruise controlling whipper snapper that's sumptuously braided seductively with lightly toned 50's styled bubble gum pop accents that sound as though they've been bronzed via an extended west coast vacation retreat and latterly decamped to the studio becalmed and chilled.
www.losingtoday.com
A special kind of genius.
www.twistedear.com
LOVE YOUR MAN, LOVE YOUR WOMAN [See Video]
In a week where most singles seem to be arrogant with adequacy, this song is a white hot motherfucker.
Artrocker, Single Of The Week
The refrain of this single is so great that it makes up for any shortcomings the song may have.
Catherine Feeny for www.playlouder.com
The results are rather mixed.
www.gigwise.com
Has melodies and charm by the bucketload and as long as you're willing to go with the band a bit, then there's a lot of fun to be had here.
www.roomthirteen.com
Ultimately it's a beefy cub scout camp fire song gone wrong, which then eventually turns into a kind of noisy marching band extravaganza.
www.music-dash.co.uk
They've been about a while but this is definitely the best single BFB have ever put out.
www.new-noise.net
Like Neutral Milk Hotel playing Guided By Voices numbers, TBFB usher in the summer perfectly.
www.subba-cultcha.com
Balls may have been the title of their last album, but here's where The Broken Family Band finally display them.
www.musicomh.com
HELLO LOVE
Americana Album Of The Month.Uncut Magazine
Album Of The Week.The Times
God knows where they go from here, but we can't wait to find out.
Clash Magazine
A bold and lovely album that only slightly suffers from the band's on-going identity crises.
The Guardian
In place of adolescent snottiness there’s a wary vulnerability, and nihilism has given way to warmth.
Sound On Sound
In an era when you need to adapt to survive The Broken Family Band are keeping up with the game.
The Sun
Where do bands like this go to die?
Vice Magazine
Genius.
The Stool Pigeon
Inspirationally ferocious.
Rocksound
TBFB consolidate their tight grip on biting and bittersweet alt-pop.
The Independent
If you've ever loved and lost, this album will make perfect sense. If you haven't, it'll tell you exactly what's in store.
The Fly
The BFB abandon their alt country leaning and head in a rockier direction… with great results.
Sunday Mirror Album Of The Week
All in, a disappointment with diamonds in the rough. But they're probably good live.
www.musicomh.com
For a band that mine in a vein that is not unknown for producing its fair share of clichés, this is a remarkably honest and strangely sweet record.
www.new-noise.net
Think a bit of upbeat Supergrass at their best, a bit of Rubber Soul simplicity, a bit of Chutes Too Narrow Shins.
www.thelineofbestfit.com
Although the album weakens a little towards the end and final track 'Seven Sisters' is far too long, 'Hello Love' is an excellent album regardless and one I can imagine returning to with regularity this summer
www.roomthirteen.com
The flurry of guitars and The Broken Family Band's comforting blend of sparkling pop, folk and at times country, effortlessly fuels all eleven of the tracks here.
www.music-dash.co.uk
It's a shame then that The Broken Family Band probably won't have an appreciably bigger audience by LP number five, for "Hello Love" is a fine record.
www.cdtimes.co.uk
The Broken Family Band keep developing album by album, but subtly and seductively.
www.soundsxp.com
Hello Love is an enjoyable, oddly satisfying record, which hopefully should win Broken Family Band some of the attention afforded to their US comrades currently ploughing a similar furrow
www.tinyvoices.co.uk
For fans of Arcade Fire, Interpol and Bright Eyes, it is an essential acquisition, and deserves to take its place as a intelli-pop classic.
www.twistedear.com
Adams has written his most sincere lyrics and most heartfelt songs to date.
www.playlouder.com
Another step away from their countrified beginnings, another step closer to pop perfection.
www.americana-uk.com
There too many great moments on this record to document here.
www.subbacultcha.com
BALLS
This country-fied Cambridge quartet have been a near-secret, but they meet their rising acclaim head-on with this album.
The Independent
Balls signals a shift of momentum, as if The Broken Family Band have learnt to articulate a hitherto unpoken sense of ambition.
Americana Album Of The Month, UNCUT
Smart as a whip. BUY IT!.
The Mirror
Brilliant.
Stuff Magazine
What's for sure is that this album has equal doses of power, grace... and balls.
The Sun
The least emotionally manipulative pop record this side of the Atlantic.
Zero Magazine
Plangent, melancholy balladry worthy of prime Johnny Marr.
Time Out
Their earthy tunes cling to you like that needy girlfriend you're about to dump because of the fake suicide attempts.
Vice Magazine
In the course of it's twelve tracks, 'Balls' shunts smoothly from alt-country to their own Sub Pop influenced guitar led rock, and does so with style.
Alternative Ulster
Balls is their most reflective to date, losing none of the infectious melody and amusing narrative that make Broken Family Band so endearing.
Flux
Aside from the consistently good songwriting and jaunty hooks, TBFB have wonderful lyrics.
International DJ
There's something of the young Elvis Costello in BFB singer Steven Adams: both drawn to the romance of country music, yet both dab hands at songs so full of sneering, sanctimonious spite that they had to be written by short, pale Englishmen.
Ben Machell, Mojo
Adams's lyrics, though, remain riddled with disappointment, and maybe there are also alcohol-related anger issues to work through.
Andy Fyfe*, Q*Who seems to have a problem with our singer
Killer.
The Stool Pigeon
Balls is further evidence that that there are some genuinely classic records being written at the moment.
www.playlouder.com
A rare feat. A rare band.
www.drownedinsound.com
WELCOME HOME, LOSER
Included in 1000 Albums To Hear Before You Die
2007The Guardian
Florid and fluid, 'Welcome Home, Loser' is their first classic.
UNCUT
TBFB's dark new record is a bloody fantastic masterpiece.
www.drownedinsound.com
Absoluter Hit des Albums aber ist "Yer Little Bedroom", ein harmlos daherkommender Song mit Akustikgitarre, der plötzlich zum Noise-Brecher wird – wunderbar.
www.gaesteliste.de
After one full length and two mini albums 'Welcome Home, Loser' captures nearly every magical aspect of this most unlikely band.
www.xfm.co.uk
The Broken Family Band have created their first classic album. A national treasure.
The Independent
At 14 songs the album is a little long, but the maniacal slow waltz of the closing track Coping With Fear, is worth holding out for.
Bucketful Of Brains
From hangovers to messy relationships, this will be the soundtrack to any emotional minefield you should want to stumble through this year.
www.dosomethingpretty.com
Musikalsk blander familiemedlemmene country med folk og pop/rock.
ww.haugesunds-avis.no
Für eine junge Combo, die erst ihr zweites Album heraus bringt und deren Mitglieder nebenbei Vollzeitjobs nachgehen, liefert The Broken Family Band mit 'Welcome Home, Loser' ein überraschendes, mitreißendes und schlüssiges Ergebnis ab.
www.portal.1und1.de
Cambridge's answer to the Burritos have now made it to their immaculately crafted second full length album.
www.netrhythms.co.uk
Cushioning the ride through these neat bundles of negativity are a healthy range of influences, making for an engaging, enjoyable ride: progressively dark, funny, poignant, enticing and dangerous.
Maverick Magazine
It might be a bit early to start making any lofty predictions about such accolades as album of the year but there’s no denying that The Broken Family Band have set the benchmark bloody high.
http://www.soundsxp.com
There's no reason why this album shouldn't be fucking massive.
www.repeatfanzine.co.uk
Welcome Home Loser is a hand-carved notch on the bedpost of alt-country and offers compelling proof that The Broken Family Band may indeed be the greatest band you've never heard of.
www.eclectichoney.com
Essentially, it's a country-noir record but without the self absorbed pity, and proves yet again (how long can this go on for?) that British artists now do the whole real country music thing better than their American compatriots on every level
www.americana-uk.com
The Broken Family Band's second album is darker and more accomplished than any previous material, intended, it seems, to steer the band well clear of any 'jangly' pigeon-holing.
Comes With A Smile
I know for a fact that even the best of the wordsmiths are unable to write and play music of this class, calibre and venom.
www.unpeeled.co.uk
Genius. This record is the Broken Family Band's first true masterpiece, and for that we are truly thankful.
www.playlouder.com
TBFB have created what must be an early contender for album of the year
Tasty Fanzine
JESUS SONGS
Warm, witty and engaging, without ever outstaying its welcome.
The Independent
Jesus Songs proves their mettle as transatlantic style-hoppers, as well as fine songsmiths.
Pitchfork
And the followers did rejoice, singing the praises of the group as was deserved of them, and we saw that it was good.
www.drownedinsound.com
Not so much about the passion of the Christ as the ironic debauchery of his flock - wry alt.country filtered through a dry British wit.
Austin Chronicle
Jesus Songs shows once again that you just never know what you might get next with The Broken Family Band.
http://www.soundsxp.com
In essence then, beautiful songs, beautifully played, whatever your beliefs.
www.xfm.co.uk
Along with Herman Dune, they're probably the best at what they're doing right now.
Tasty Fanzine
This is a superb pop/folk/rock recording with seven excellent tracks and well worth shelling out some cash for.
www.shakenstir.co.uk
Jesus Songs is packed with humour, invention, and soul, made by a band who don't fit into any given pigeonhole or marketing schedule and who are all the better for it.
www.logo-magazine.com
COLD WATER SONGS
A triumph of urban wit over rustic convention.
MOJO
Not exactly Shania Twain.
Maxim
Cold Water Songs would be enough to break any family.
Jewish Chronicle
Like Pavement covering Nashville standards, polished off with the caustic wit of Lou Reed and varnished with the spunky smear of Gram Parsons' love pump, this band create truly remarkable pop music.
NME
It's a twisted little album with a punk rock engine underneath its American styled exterior but fuelled on humour and verve.
http://www.soundsxp.com
Endlessly appealing stuff.
ROCKSOUND
Adams is fast proving to be one of the best songwriters in the UK today.
www.americana-uk.com
Picking highlights from such an excellent record is a task Solomon would baulk at.
www.xfm.co.uk
This is an album that you should hear. You should play it more than once and you should listen to it when you are in the mood to listen to music.
www.repeatfanzine.co.uk
THE KING WILL BUILD A DISCO
Wonderful, fractured, off-kilter alt. country compositions that sound like Will Oldham might if he'd been born in Brixton.
UNCUT
The Broken Family Band obviously have talent, but their style of music just makes me want to smack my head against a wall.
Winchester & Hampshire Gazette
What sticks in your mind are Adams's lyrics: from the bitter "would you love me more if I was prettier?" (in the suitably titled Twisted) to When We're Dry's worrying "what do we do when the booze runs out?" Actually, that might be the perfect moment to listen to The King Will Build a Disco.
Sunday Times
A damn fine debut mini album which grows a warm fuzzy feeling inside you with every listen.
www.drownedinsound.com
...ripples with the sound of genuine, rain-sodden English defeat. Witty and sumptuously melodic.
NME
...even the spunk joke in 'The Perfect Gentleman' adds to the charm.
www.xfm.co.uk
