The Unexamined Life
compares oddly with most of
the Dicks
' later work. The record is probably more focused than those which followed, but focused on its own eeriness -- the quasi-psychedelic folk vibe has more in common with the Japanese collective
Ghost
than with the sprawlingly odd Americana of albums like
The Emotional Plague
. This gives
a haunting edge that simply isn't captured by the
Lou Barlow
references that seem appropriate -- there's an antique and wholly psychedelic quality behind the record's drawling folk, and it's that element that lends the album most of its interest. ~ Nitsuh Abebe