Smoke Ring For My Halo

Pitchfork 8.4/10 This feels like a family of songs, one whose complexion and course changes as a whole with every spin.

A.V. Club B Smoke Ring For My Halo is a repetitive album in the best possible sense, even if some of Vile's distinctive sound was shorn off along with the fuzz.

NME 4/5 The overall impression is of gloomy landscape paintings with a spooky, residual feeling that God might be hiding behind every cloud or passing tumbleweed — electrifying.

Rolling Stone 4/5 On Vile's fourth LP, the stoner haze lifts a bit, and he settles on a mood: chilled-out but guarded, and wrapped in gorgeous folk-blues guitar-picking.

DIY 4/5 The title could easily act as a style guide for the eleven tracks herein.

All Music 4/5 In an age where angst is delivered with the subtlety of a laser light show, it's nice to hear some good, old-fashioned, smokin'-and-drinkin'-cheap-beers-on-the-porch-with-your-friends-style pessimism.

The Skinny 4/5 As on Matador breakthrough Childish Prodigy, Vile is backed by the Violators, pushing him further still from the scrappy CD-Rs of his youth, yet existing Vile-ophiles will nonetheless feel right at home amidst Smoke Ring for My Halo’s modern slant on old familiar sounds.

Clash 7/10 To the uninitiated, this kind of '70s-inspired thrum-rock might sound a bit AOR, but given time it reveals its nuances, placing Vile somewhere between a rougher-edged M. Ward and a bluesy Ariel Pink.

Slant 4/5 Vile's music is inflected with a special kind of magic, which makes it sound grimy while remaining melodically clean, bored and disinterested while granting you its full attention.

Pop Matters 7/10 On a whole, Smoke Ring for My Halo works because it has both lilting atmosphere and a rumbling, if trudging, pulse.

Spectrum Culture 76% Smoke Ring is not an eager listen, it’s the kind of album that occurs to you after a few spins. All jokes aside, it takes some time before Vile’s nonchalantly wise exhalations hit.

Beats Per Minute 86% Though it may seem like Vile tends to waver on just how he wants to be perceived, the lack of commitment is nothing if not intensely deliberate.

Uncut 8/10 The real heart of this record seems to lie in moments of stillness and rest, where strung-out slackerdom attains an almost sacred quality.