These People

Pitchfork 5.1/10 If the emergence of These People is something of a surprise, its contents are anything but.

NME 4/5 ‘These People’ is the solo record most aligned to Ashcroft’s Verve peak, right down to employing the same string arranger and bunging on one gigantic romance anthem, ‘This is How It Feels’.

The Line of Best Fit 4/10 He returns with an album lacking any real sense of focus, and while there are certainly a number of new ideas on These People, none of them feel properly fleshed out or fully realised.

The Independent 1/5 Also Terry Allen's Juarez and Andy Shauf's The Party

All Music 3.5/5 These People functions as a pleasing adult alternative record. True, it's an album that favors mood over form but after several somnolent solo records, not to mention the botched ambitions of the United Nations of Sound, the cool assurance and shiny veneer of These People is quite welcome.

Clash 4/10 The unerringly loyal will find enough here to sate a hunger for anthemic bobbins drenched in atmospheric production, but there’s little to match the handful of magical songs for which he is known.

The Observer 2/5 (Righteous Phonographic Association/Cooking Vinyl)

Loud and Quiet 6/10 While his attempts to change in parts are admirable, on ‘These People’ it’s the tried and tested Ashcroft traits that work best.

The Guardian 3/5 There are outliers such as the horrible Britpop-by-way-of-Pet-Shop-Boys punchy greyness of Hold On, and the grating synth stabs on opener Out of My Body, but generally Ashcroft manages to relive his heyday nicely.