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Broadcast Distant Call: Collected Demos [2000-2006]
Broadcast's Distant Call: Collected Demos [2000-2006] arrives as a quietly elegiac companion piece that casts Trish Keenan's songwriting in stark, intimate relief. Across two professional reviews the collection earned a 65/100 consensus score, and critics agree the demos reveal the band's folk-psych fusion, spectral nostalgia, and a mood of mourning that turns rough sketches into affecting artifacts.
Reviewers consistently single out “Tears In The Typing Pool [Demo]”, with both critics calling it the record's emotional fulcrum, followed by standout tracks “Come Back To Me [Demo]” and “Still Feels Like Tears [Demo]”. PopMatters emphasizes how stripped arrangements foreground Keenan's ethereal vocals and the demos' demo intimacy, arguing the selections read more as testament than anthology. The Quietus frames the same material as a tender valediction, noting baroque fragility and psych-folk arpeggios that cast these recordings as haunted, memory-laden transmissions rather than polished studio statements.
The critical consensus balances admiration and reservation: praise centers on the collection's ability to expose folk roots, hauntology, and the poignancy of loss and mourning, while criticism points to unevenness inherent in demo material and a limited appeal beyond devoted fans. For readers searching for the best songs on Distant Call, “Tears In The Typing Pool [Demo]”, “Come Back To Me [Demo]” and “Still Feels Like Tears [Demo]” emerge as the clearest highlights. The record's reflective tone and archival intimacy make it a meaningful, if niche, addition to Broadcast's catalog—worth exploring for those drawn to fragile melodies and elegiac atmospheres.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
Tears In The Typing Pool [Demo]
2 mentions
"Distant Call opens with appropriate poignancy, with a demo version of ‘Tears In The Typing Pool’"— The Quietus
Come Back To Me [Demo]
2 mentions
"The combination of psych and folk is best captured on beguiling ‘Come Back To Me’, a hypnotic arpeggio-led chant"— The Quietus
Still Feels Like Tears [Demo]
2 mentions
"Originally from The Future Crayon, ‘Still Feels Like Tears’ is more instant, channelling the vulnerability and tenderness"— The Quietus
Distant Call opens with appropriate poignancy, with a demo version of ‘Tears In The Typing Pool’
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Tears In The Typing Pool [Demo]
Still Feels Like Tears [Demo]
Come Back To Me [Demo]
The Little Bell [Demo]
Distant Call [Demo]
Valerie [Demo]
Colour Me In [Demo]
Ominous Cloud [Demo]
Flame Left From The Sun [Demo]
Where Youth And Laughter Go [Demo]
Poem Of A Dead Song [Demo]
O How I Miss You [Demo]
Pendulum [Demo]
Please Call To Book [Demo]
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 3 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
Broadcast's Distant Call: Collected Demos [2000-2006] makes plain which are the best tracks on Distant Call: chief among them is “Tears in the Typing Pool”, followed by plaintive gems like “Still Feels Like Tears” and the folksy “Come Back to Me”. The reviewer lingers on how the stripped arrangements let Trish Keenan's melodies and insight shine, turning demos into something mournful and revealing. In that voice — measured, slightly academic, and quietly elegiac — the collection reads as a testament to Keenan's songwriting rather than a conventional hits set. The demos clarify the band's folk underpinnings while preserving the distance and mystery that made Broadcast a cult favorite.
Key Points
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The demos reveal that “Tears in the Typing Pool” is the standout, more devastating in stripped form.
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The album's core strengths are Keenan's songwriting, haunting vocals, and the intimacy of the sparse demo arrangements.
Themes
Critic's Take
Broadcast's Distant Call: Collected Demos [2000-2006] reads like a tender valediction, where the best songs - notably “Tears In The Typing Pool” and “Come Back To Me” - surface as plainly beguiling relics. The reviewer frames “Tears In The Typing Pool” as coloured by dreamy melancholy and a lulling ballad that melds 60s baroque fragility with Elliott Smith-like urban balladry. Meanwhile “Come Back To Me” is praised as a hypnotic, arpeggio-led chant that captures the psych-folk heart of the collection. Overall the demos confirm a spectral, reflective nostalgia that makes the best tracks on Distant Call feel like intimate transmissions from an unreachable past.
Key Points
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The best song, “Tears In The Typing Pool”, is best for its melancholic, lulling demo that melds 60s baroque fragility with intimate balladry.
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The album’s core strength is its spectral, reflective intimacy: stripped-down demos that serve as a farewell and memorial to Trish Keenan.