The Waiting Room

AlbumJan 22 / 201611 songs, 48m 1s96%
Chamber Pop
Popular Highly Rated
8.0 / 10

Tindersticks have never released a bad album, never made an opportunistic, trend-driven shift, and have never done anything that might date their music to its moment of origin. They’re the rare group that can lay claim to a signature sound, yet tweak the formula from album to album so that each of their 10 records possesses its own distinct character.

B

Tindersticks’ suit-wearing stalwarts of soulful, crepuscular chamber rock have spent the past quarter-century tinkering with the classic palettes of lounge, soul, and countrified baroque pop, creating a body of work that’s shockingly eclectic for a band that pretty much only writes downbeat songs about romance and…

8 / 10

With contributions from artists as diverse as Jehnny Beth from Savages and jazz musicians Tindersticks continue to deliver their exquisite melancholy

8.4 / 10

The best compliment ever paid Tindersticks is never having to see the words “’90s band” precede the group’s name.

You have to recognise it as Staples’ strongest set of songs for a good long while.

The electric piano at the forefront of the nocturnal "Second Chance Man" finds Tindersticks at their softest and most inward looking; that is, before they pick up the tempo and horns cut in, framing the lyric in a new take on Celtic soul.

9 / 10

Over the course of a career now spanning 25 years and 11 albums, Tindersticks have proven themselves reigning masters of melancholy. The com...

6.5 / 10

For their eleventh studio album (including the re-recordings for 2013's retrospective Across Six Leap Years), Tindersticks further redraw a sound that has previously touched on chamber pop, soul, lounge jazz, and other areas.

8 / 10

It doesn’t seem unreasonable to observe that there isn’t a weak link in Tindersticks’ discography. Few bands who are twenty-five years

The album has its share of big moments, but it’s mostly made up of small, claustrophobic gestures of prickly emotional uncertainty.

8 / 10

There is earthy warmth to be found in Tindersticks’ 10th album – a triumphant, elegantly dishevelled listen

Album Reviews: Tindersticks - The Waiting Room

A penumbral mood piece from the perennially sombre combo. CD review by Kieron Tyler

8 / 10