Ed Kuepper & Jim White After The Flood
Ed Kuepper and Jim White's After The Flood reconceive familiar material into a restless, live-wired statement that critics largely applaud. Across professional reviews the record earned a 79/100 consensus score from two reviews, and the prevailing impression is of a collaborative reworking that favors raw immediacy over studio polish. Critics consistently note variety and reimagining as central strengths, with the sessions feeling more like stage enactments than carefully produced reproductions.
Reviewers point to specific standouts as evidence of that approach. “The Ruins” and “Demolition” are highlighted for capturing on-the-spot energy and the duo's chemistry, while “Swing for the Crime” (noted as the most fiercely preserved Saints fragment) emerges as a visceral reinterpretation that retains original tension. Dusted Magazine praises the way fragments and instrumental passages act as purposeful reinventions rather than simple nostalgia, and Tinnitist emphasizes the album's variety and live immediacy as what makes the best songs on After The Flood feel revelatory.
At once a study in diasporic roots and a test of legacy, the album balances reworking legacy material with bold collaborative impulses. Some critics register a lean toward rough-hewn performance over refinement, but the consensus among professional reviews is that the record's adventurous spirit makes After The Flood a worthwhile, sometimes essential, listen in Kuepper's catalogue. Scroll down for the full reviews and track-by-track notes that unpack how these reinterpretations land.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
Swing for the Crime
1 mention
"“Swing for the Crimes,” comes from the final original line-up album"— Dusted Magazine
Demolition
1 mention
"Everything was laid down live."— Tinnitist
Miracles
1 mention
"the broadest representation of what we did, with the most variety."— Tinnitist
“Swing for the Crimes,” comes from the final original line-up album
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
The Ruins
The Crying Dance
The Year of the Bloated Goat
The 16 Days
Demolition
Swing for the Crime
Collapse Board
Miracles
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 2 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
Ed Kuepper and Jim White turn After The Flood into a goldmine of reimagined songs, and the best tracks - notably “The Ruins” and “Demolition” - capture that live immediacy. The reviewer's voice revels in the pair's chemistry, insisting the album feels like what they did onstage, not something laboured over. It is the variety and the sense that everything was laid down live that makes the best songs on After The Flood feel immediate and revelatory.
Key Points
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The best song succeeds by translating the pair's live immediacy into a reimagined studio performance.
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The album's core strengths are its collaborative chemistry, live-laid performances, and stylistic variety.
Themes
Critic's Take
In this review the writer foregrounds the album’s best moments as reinterpretations that reanimate old material: on After The Flood the visceral spike comes from “Swing for the Crimes”, which is singled out as the lone Saints song that still sawingly clings to its original tension. The reviewer praises how Kuepper and White redraw familiar contours, making tracks like “Swing for the Crimes” and the instrumental fragments feel like purposeful reinventions rather than mere nostalgia. Reading the piece, the critic frames those songs as the clearest evidence that Ed Kuepper & Jim White are interested in pushing boundaries rather than retreading comfortingly known ground.
Key Points
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The best song is “Swing for the Crimes” because the reviewer highlights it as the album’s most vivid reworking of legacy material.
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The album’s core strength is its boundary-pushing reinterpretation of older songs, favoring tension and reinvention over straightforward nostalgia.