Bottle It In

Pitchfork 7.0/10 While Bottle It In—Vile’s longest, most introspective record—lacks the quiet beauty of 2011’s Smoke Ring for My Halo, the warmth of 2013’s Wakin on a Pretty Daze, or the immediacy of 2015’s b’lieve i’m goin’ down…, its monolithic Kurtness is its own defining quality.

The Needle Drop 6/10 Though an improvement on his previous solo effort, Kurt Vile's new album could have used some trimming.

NME 4/5 The mellow master’s seventh studio album is an expansive odyssey that proves he’s an idiosyncratic one-off.

The Line of Best Fit 8/10 Depending on your taste, and depending on how you like your Vile, this could be his best record in ages, or you could be a tad put off by the spaced-out, long-winded nature of it.

Evening Standard 4/5 All the biggest album releases this week 

Rolling Stone 4/5 Vile’s latest LP has his tastiest playing and his deepest writing. It follows his fantastic 2017 collaboration with singer-songwriter wiz Courtney Barnett, Lotta Sea Lice, and suggests he’s in the midst of a real artistic roll.

Dork 3/5 Kurt Vile is an artist that operates clearly within one lane, and a violent swerve into nu-rave or dubstep wouldn’t exactly have worked very well. Having said that, there needs to be something new for an album to be interesting, and unfortunately, it’s this something that ‘Bottle It In’ is lacking. It’s still a good enough record, just don’t get too excited when you first hit play.

DIY 3/5 Inventive and innovative while still overflowing with the wholesome charm of his sound, it’s rooted in themes of anxiety, existential fear and vulnerability.

The Independent 4/5 Kurt is ever the buzzed, backseat philosopher, pondering the infinite and trying to establish his footing within it.

All Music 3.5/5 While sometimes disjointed or lingering, Bottle It In finds Vile's production at its most colorful and curious. Making the most of the various environments where it was recorded, the album feels like a travel diary picked up sporadically along the way.

The Skinny 4/5 Bottle It In calmly addresses rough themes with maturity and elegance. On his seventh solo album, Kurt Vile discards the negativity, generating an affirmative landscape of awareness.

Under The Radar 8.5/10 There's a comfort to Vile's music, like the glow of nostalgia and warm but distant memories, muttering a ceaseless flow of sideways witticisms, something aimless yet completely reassured. He is one of the most dependable artists working in indie rock, rehashing old sounds while always pushing the envelope, constantly expanding his artistic approach while never losing his footing.

Clash 7/10 Jeez, it’s long, and there are some missteps, some ill-advised detours, along his peregrinations, but all in all, it’s worth coming along for the ride.

The Observer 4/5 Across 80 sprawling minutes, Vile does lose his focus occasionally ... Still, this is an album to savour.

Slant 3/5 This affinity for aimless trains of thought applies to the whole of Bottle It In, an album where Vile is quick to conjure up a bevy of interesting images or ideas but struggles to find a compelling way to contain them.

Pop Matters 7/10 Bottle It In rewards patient listeners with some dazzling highlights that reveal themselves with each listen.

The Guardian 4/5 Lesser musicians would make these songs as boring as a drugs story you aren’t involved in, but Vile ultimately has such an instinctive facility for melodic logic that behind the shaggy locks and purple haze, there’s a clear-headed, big-hearted songwriter at work.

Spectrum Culture 80% This is Vile in Mark Kozelek-circa-Common as Light and Love mode, where an indie stalwart with a distinct style embodies and extends his craft to such an extreme that it scans as either self-parody or a logical endpoint to a slow and steady development.

Uncut 8/10 However eccentric and laidback his expression, it’s as masterfully distinctive as that of any auteur. Vile’s a soulful and perceptive rover, not some head-scratching rambler. Bottle It In proves that there’s a literal world of difference between them.