Bill Orcutt & Mabe Fratti Almost Waking
Released Mar 12, 2026 Unheard Of Hope
Established consensus 5 professional reviews Updated May 26, 2026
Broadly positive consensus
Bill Orcutt and Mabe Fratti's Almost Waking pairs jagged experimental guitar with mournful cello to produce a record where instrumental conversation often reads like lyric.
How ChoruScore worksCritics' Top Tracks
The songs critics returned to most
El inicio es cuestión de suerte
1 critic mention
“see the haunting vocal track "El inicio es cuestion de suerte” — The Line of Best Fit
Almost Waking
3 critic mentions
“Almost Waking reveals a deep kinship between these true originals” — The Guardian
Full critic consensus
Bill Orcutt and Mabe Fratti's Almost Waking pairs jagged experimental guitar with mournful cello to produce a record where instrumental conversation often reads like lyric. Across five professional reviews the critical consensus lands on a warm-but-edgy balance, with a 79/100 consensus score acknowledging the duo's knack for turning improvisation and textural contrast into melodic payoff.
Critics consistently praise tracks that allow the instruments to trade roles as protagonists and accompanists, naming the title cut "Almost Waking" repeatedly as a standout for its blend of aggression and melody. Reviews note a recurring duality - moments of ferocity sit beside chamber textures and unexpected tenderness - and point to the collaborative chemistry as the album's chief strength. Paste Magazine and The Guardian emphasize the interplay and emotional directness, while The Line of Best Fit highlights where rawness and lyricism intersect when answering questions about the best songs on Almost Waking.
Not every critic interprets those tensions the same way; some reviews value the record's compact immediacy, others register it as a more challenging listen that rewards patience and repeated plays. Still, across professional reviews the collection's remote-creation intimacy, inventive duets, and the standout performance on "Almost Waking" make a persuasive case that this collaboration is worth seeking out. Below, the full critiques unpack how Orcutt and Fratti shape improvisation into distinctly melodic moments.
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Almost Waking
El inicio es cuestión de suerte
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What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 5 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
The review points to moments of ferocity and tenderness across the record, arguing that the duo's interplay is where the album's strongest tracks find their force. These selections read as the natural answers to queries about the best tracks on Almost Waking because they exemplify the album's textural range and emotional directness.
Key Points
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The opening tracks, especially “Almost Waking”, are the album's emotional and textural fulcrum.
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The record's core strength is the duo's responsive improvisation that blends ferocity with tenderness.
Themes
Critic's Take
Bill Orcutt and Mabe Fratti sound uncannily in step on Almost Waking, and the best songs are those that let their instruments speak as voices. The record feels wonderfully alive, a compact showcase of how experimental textures can also yield melodic warmth.
Key Points
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The album's core strength is the conversational duet between Fratti's cello and Orcutt's guitar, blending aggression and melodic tenderness.
Themes
Critic's Take
This framing answers listeners searching for the best songs on Almost Waking by pointing to those tracks where rawness and lyricism meet most effectively.
Key Points
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The best song is “El inicio es cuestión de suerte” because its haunting vocals and wounded beauty exemplify the album's emotional peak.
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The album’s core strength is the melding of Orcutt’s raw, jagged guitar with Fratti’s melodic, chamber-like cello textures.