V (Unknown Mortal Orchestra album)

"That Life" is a mid-tempo psychedelic pop song with a prominent "tumbling" guitar riff.[18] The song features a "playful" rhythm and leans into a funk sound.[8][19] Many critics characterised the song as having a "sunny" summer quality.[19][8][20][21] The song was inspired by Hieronymus Bosch's triptych altarpiece The Garden of Earthly Delights and the puzzle book illustrations of Where's Wally. It imagines similar "contrasting scenes and multiple characters all engaged in that same perverse mixture of luxury, reverie, damnation, in the landscape of America. Somewhere on holiday under a vengeful sun".[7] "That Life" has been interpreted as an commentary on the clash between escapism and the harsh realities of life.[6] Nielson sings, "Girl in the bathroom, Florida key / Certainties all away / Brother of cocaine, a tequila son-in-law / End of the world today / How do the clouds get as pink as a peach?" Scott Russell of Paste described the track's "uncanny energy" as being "both carefree and apocalyptic, part daydream and part waking nightmare".[18]

"Weekend Run" is a "groove-heavy" track with a strong influence of 1970s disco music and soul.[3][4][22][5][23] A slow-burning five-minute number,[24] the song is populated with "pop-infused" melodies and a "danceable" beat.[23][4] Nielson's soft, "laidback" vocals throughout the track are backed by "wavy" indie guitar riffs and a "chugging" bassline.[23][25][4] The song's lyrical content explores themes of escapism as Nielson sings about the week's mundanities and chasing the "perfect velvet freedom" provided by the weekend.[24][4][26] The lyrics list each day of the week, building up to the chorus where Nielson sings, "When the weekend comes / Yeah, we'll be lost in love".[27][4] The song's "stop-start" structure creates a feeling of repetition,[28][29] mimicking Nielson's repetition of the days of the week.[25]

"Nadja" is a melancholy track characterised by the "quiet sway" of its "gentle" rhythm.[12][11][13] It features sparse instrumentation that highlights Nielson's "hypnotic" vocals and guitar.[12][13] The lyrics touch upon themes of escape, paranoia, and obsession as Nielson sings, "Nadja baby / Found a strand of your hair and ate it / Couldn't throw away this thing you left behind".[13][30] The song's dark lyrical themes are juxtaposed with the song's "supreme sense of sonic bliss".[13] The song has been perceived as being a sequel to "Layla".[12]

"I Killed Captain Cook" is an acoustic ballad told from the perspective of the Hawaiian who killed the British explorer Captain James Cook, after he attempted to kidnap the ruling Hawaiian chief Kalaniʻōpuʻu in 1779. According to the song's press release, the song was written for Nielson's mother, who would "tell him the story as a child with pride".[10] The song is unique for employing the Hapa-haole (Half white) tradition of Hawaiian music, which blends traditional Hawaiian melodies with English lyrics.[31][32] The song was heavily influenced by the fingerpicking style known as slack-key guitar. Lyrically, Nielson drew inspiration from the work of the Melbourne-based drone metal duo "Divide and Dissolve".[33][34]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	76/100[35]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[36]
Clash	8/10[37]
Mojo	[38]
NME	[39]
Paste	8.0/10[40]
Pitchfork	6.7/10[41]
Record Collector	[42]
Uncut	9/10[1]

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 76, based on 11 reviews.[35]

Fred Thomas of AllMusic wrote, "It's just as easy of an album to drift off in thought to as it is to obsess over its patchwork of details and strange coloration, reaching a deeper, more thoughtful expression of the kind of bizarre beauty the band excels at".[36] Jason Anderson of Uncut gave the album a 9 out of 10 rating, calling it "an album confirming Ruban Nielson's versatility and imagination, as well as a new willingness to escape the nooks and crannies of his own psyche and engage more fully with the world outside".[1] Kevin Harley of Record Collector called it Nielson's "most expansive, inviting work yet".[42]

Victoria Segal of Mojo gave the album 3 out of 5 stars, concluding, "There are featureless patches, bits of white-box real-estate that need a little more character, but there's always something intriguing around V's corners".[38] Pitchfork's Marty Sartini Garner wrote, "Ruban Nielson accompanies some of his strongest songwriting and performances to date with foggy production that makes the whole thing feel like a long, rummy sigh".[41]