Pitchfork

Seclusion finds Aereogramme struggling to strike a balance between thickly distorted guitar-and-keys soundscaping and sunny, almost precious, melodies. Too safe to be dangerous and too dangerous to be safe, the Scottish threesome has an unfortunate tendency to linger between musical poles. The exception is Flaming Lips cover "Lightning Strikes the Postman", where the band's dark and light qualities cohere into something satisfying.

The track is built on a series of slowly creeping keyboard washes and churning, malevolent guitar riffs. A harmonically ambiguous Robert Fripp-style solo comes careening in, but no one in King Crimson ever sang with the vulnerability of Craig B., whose clear-throated vocal cuts through the maelstrom like a lighthouse beacon, guiding the song-- if not the album-- safely to shore.