LISTEN!

press references:

“Hymns From Rhodesia” #39 in eMusic's Best Albums of 2009

“Gorgeous folk-rock so antiquey and memory-filled, it sounds like it’s gilded in the dust blown off an heirloom music box. If he sounds slightly mournful, it’s the good kind of sad — a sympathetic voice to guide you through a crash-landing at the end of the world.”

rollingstone.com

“Finally, a band name we can believe in! Mysterious and borderline un-Googleable Houston collective proves expert at putting the ghosts back into Goth-folk. Their upcoming full-length, Hymns from Rhodesia, is a spellbinding collection of country-gospel songs haunted by loneliness and loss.”

“Hymns From Rhodesia” in COLOURlovers' Best Album Palettes Of 2009

“Hymns From Rhodesia” in Albums Des Blogueurs Top 588 Albums of 2009

CultureMap

“Think of a Cuisinart loaded with goth, folk, country and indie rock pureed using the Texas button, then lightly seasoned with Devendra Banhart (coincidentally born in Houston), Neutral Milk Hotel and some classic Texas country music.”

austin sound

“Make no mistake, Listenlisten have this mood down to a science, or at least an art form – each little piece of this huge puzzle of instrumentation is crafted precisely to give an air of the spontaneous, like a true hymn that materializes out of nowhere on one of those travel shows to “unknown” corners of the earth (like Romania).”

gumshoe grove

“Hymns From Rhodesia is cinematic and direly Serious; intense; urgent. It’s the sort of music that starts leaking onto playlists as fall slowly swallows summer with its giant, autumn-leaf-spitting maw.”

space city rock

“There's an absolute fatalism here, a knowledge that death comes for everyone and could well be right around the corner.”

treble

“Listenlisten is a band that commands the listener's attention not just through their stunning songwriting, but through their impeccable attention to detail.”

houston press

“several songs on its exceedingly dark, occasionally unsettling debut full-length, Hymns from Rhodesia, really are based in part on century-old church music. “Funeral Dirge; Burial Service” goes them one better, coupling together a pair of Masonic burial songs that the band reckons have been around for 200 years or maybe longer, and that haven't lost one ounce of creepiness.”

emusic

“Banjo-picking, protest-singing, back-porch-rocking citizens of Texas, have we got some music for you. It's called "anarchana" — a name that hints at both its old-timey Americana roots and its anti-government sympathies — and it's being pioneered by ListenListen, a Houstin band of Appalachian folk-rockers.”

jamsbio.com

“With a spirit that conjures images of deep, dark woods from a bygone era, listenlisten’s sound is communal, often featuring a chorus of chanting voices bolstered by gently plucked guitars, swelling horns, and swirling strings.”

weareinvolved.com

“…a farmer stands in his work clothes, staring blankly… A baron and exposed field stretches out away from their feet. On the other side of this are the tall flames of a fire that has engulfed their home. It flickers aggressively in the afternoon wind and stands out in violent contrast to the dark overcast sky that hangs passively overhead…”

side one: track one

“I love you Austin, but recently some of the most exciting new "Austin music" has been outsourced to Houston, namely to Listenlisten’s new album Hymns From Rhodesia.”

29-95.com

“Godfrey and listenlisten put his eerie lyrics of anxiety, violence, death and doom to largely wood-and-wire instrumentation that is gorgeous, unsettling and untethered to era or trend.”

little reviews

“Pour conclure, j'imagine que ce n'est pas par hasard qu'ils se sont appelés listenlisten (et même parfois listen! listen!) : c'est une musique qui se mérite. Faut plus d'une écoute! Et, après, on ne parvient plus à se décoller…”

cheaper than therapy

“The most original album on this list, this is a haunting piece of religious heritage brought to the fore through stark arrangements of lost hymns from Africa.”