Excerpt: “Turn the clock back a few years and most people were convinced there was something in the water in WA because of the sheer number of excellent acts who called that piece of Australia home. Fast forward to 2010 and it seems our short attention spans have been diverted elsewhere in the search of the source of the ‘next big thing’. A Million Square Miles is a compilation…. Drawing together 16 tracks from eight artists, it successfully navigates the folk, indie pop and rock genres….A Million Square Miles is a pleasing and mellow offering that is easy-on-the-ear and reaffirms the fact that there is something in the water out west.”

The Dwarf

Excerpt: “This is the rare exhibition of musical aptitude that delights from start to finish, with nary a disappointment to be found.  Being tagged by some as Australia’s answer to the British label 4AD, Hidden Shoal (HSR) does indeed specialize in a brand of music that places atmosphere, ambience, and texture high on the priority list.  With an onslaught of reverb and delay effects that would put the Edge to shame, this album features eight acts that run the gamut from quirky playfulness (Toby Richardson) to hypnotic melodrama (My Majestic Star). Hidden Shoals’ impressive roster on A Million Square Miles is bound to shore up some buzz, and deservedly so:  it’s an exhilarating listen from beginning to end.”
Adequacy.net

Excerpt: “So how exactly do you improve on near perfection…Entrusted with such an unenviable task of enhancing something without need of tinkering, Manzano pulls out the stops hooks the track up to his workbench and armed with his productive spanners strips the original back to its threadbare chassis and re-wires the skeletal frame with an enchanted wonderland workshop assortment of snow bound effects and lilting sleepy headed lullaby-esque texturing, the emerging recalibration bathed with a snoozing charm tranquillity seductively opines with the wide eyed sensitivity of Inch Time, the timid expressions of Landshipping and the bitter sweetly forlorn ache of the Shady Bard. Perfection perfected – can’t say fairer than that.”

LosingToday

Excerpt: “The sun-splashed instrumental rock Apricot Rail delivers on its 2009 self-titled LP isn’t all-bombast all the time. Rather, the Australian outfit structures carefully these colorful compositions, so that woodwinds, strings, and dusty organ sounds are as critically important to the final product as the countless treble-heavy guitar tracks… At nearly six-and-a-half minutes, “Halfway House” begins somewhat like a prog-techno track, with prodding percussion and a micro patter of sound before everything comes together—large and small—in a development that showcases some of the most interesting moments this record has to offer. Apricot Rail does the Big Thing well, but these five talents just don’t need to rely on it.”

PopMatters