''Impersonator'' is the third studio album by Canadian pop duo

Majical Cloudz Majical Cloudz was a Canadian music group from Montreal consisting of singer-songwriter Devon Welsh and Matt Otto. The group disbanded in March 2016. History Welsh, the son of actor Kenneth Welsh and Corinne Farago,Matador Records Matador Records is an independent record label, with a roster of mainly indie rock, but also punk rock, experimental rock, alternative rock, and electronic acts. History Matador was created in 1989 by Chris Lombardi in his New York City apart ...

and Mythryl Records. It was their first album on Matador after signing with the label in February 2013. It was also the group's first album to feature producer Matthew Otto as a member, following the departure of Matthew E. Duffy after the release of ''II'' in 2011. The album was longlisted for the

2013 Polaris Music Prize The 2013 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 23, 2013

Release and promotion

"Turns Turns Turns" was released on November 5, 2012 as a single from their EP of the same name, which was released on December 3, 2012 by

Arbutus Records Arbutus Records is a Montreal based record label and Artist Management, management company founded by Sebastian Cowan in 2009. The label is named after the street by the same name in Vancouver, where Cowan grew up. The label have also begun expand ...

and Merok Records. "Childhood's End" was released on March 26, 2013. On April 3, 2013, a music video for "Childhood's End" directed by

Emily Kai Bock Emily Kai Bock (born 1983 or 1984) is a Canadian writer and film director. In 2017, her short film '' A Funeral for Lightning'' was included in TIFF's annual Canada's Top Ten list of the top 10 Canadian short films of the year, selected by a pane ...

was released starring Devon Welsh's father

Kenneth Welsh Kenneth Welsh, (March 30, 1942 – May 5, 2022) was a Canadian film and television actor. He was best known as the multi-faceted villain Windom Earle in ''Twin Peaks'', for his roles in the films ''The Day After Tomorrow'', '' Adoration'', ''Su ...

. "Bugs Don't Buzz" was released on May 2, 2013. On June 20, 2013, a music video for "Bugs Don't Buzz" was premiered through

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

. It was directed by Gordon von Steiner and features cockroaches and beetles with miniature furniture and landscaping.

Critical reception

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 77, based on 23 reviews. Writing for ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'', Jayson Greene praised the album, stating, "''Impersonator'' is a gorgeous record-- extraordinarily sung, hypnotically focused-- but it is Welsh's sense of emotional urgency that makes it special." Fred Thomas of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

said, "With such a wide-open sound, even the confusing and painful parts sound hauntingly beautiful." Writing for ''

Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...

'', Sasha Geffen said, "By paring pop music to its core human elements, Majical Cloudz has written a record that's bare enough to breathe inside. Feeling thrives in the blankness: that's ''Impersonator''s paradox." Brice Ezell of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

praised Devon Welsh's lyricism and the album's musical simplicity, stating, "''Impersonator'' is an album of intriguing paradox. Its ingredients are so simple that it might have been made in a home or garage studio, but Majical Cloudz' sound is so uniquely and deliberately crafted that it's unlikely just anyone with

ProTools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

could do the same. Welsh's simple sentence-centric lyrics are nothing a budding writer couldn't imitate, but his delivery is more akin to the terse yet resonant style of

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...

." In a less favorable review, Laura Studarus of '' Under the Radar'' said, "The majority sounds like demos for a fuller, richer album that Welsh undoubtedly has the skills to write."

Year-end lists

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes. * Devon Welsh – songwriting, production * Matthew Otto – production * Dimitri Condax – mastering

References

{{Authority control 2013 albums Matador Records albums