no floor by more eaze & claire rousay
81
ChoruScore
4 reviews
Mar 21, 2025
Release Date
Thrill Jockey
Label

more eaze & claire rousay's no floor unfolds as a patient, haunting conversation between ambient Americana and experimental noise, and critics agree it mostly succeeds. Across four professional reviews the record earned an 81/100 consensus score, praised for its textured soundscapes, duo interplay, and the way found sound and pedal steel map dream vs reality. For those wondering "is no floor good," the critical consensus points to a rewarding, if occasionally unsettling, listen.

Reviewers consistently single out “Hopfields” and “Lowcountry” as the album's emotional anchors. “Hopfields” opens with intimate fingerpicking and humid pedal steel that critics say eases the listener into a suburbia-tinged unease, while “Lowcountry” closes with swelling strings and filmic resonance that feel like a cathartic release. Other standout tracks noted across reviews include “limelight, illegally” and “kinda tropical”, both praised for pairing delicate guitar and violin with metallic shards and field recordings to create ambient instrumental storytelling and collage composition.

Critics from PopMatters, Pitchfork, The Quietus and KLOF Mag emphasize minimalism and restraint as strengths, citing textured soundscapes, found sound as texture, and Americana-tinged instrumentation that suggest road-trip imagery and desolation. Some reviews temper praise with observations about the record's brittle moments and deliberate fragmentation - mid-album pieces trade conventional development for fragments that linger as emotional punctuation. That mix of intimacy and experimentation makes no floor a notable entry in both artists' catalogs.

For readers seeking the best songs on no floor, start with “Hopfields” and “Lowcountry”; the consensus score across four reviews suggests the record is worth listening to for its subtle rewards and collaborative chemistry.

Critics' Top Tracks

The standout songs that made critics take notice

1

hopfields

4 mentions

"“Hopfields” opens No Floor with Rousay’s acoustic guitar fingerpicking alongside Maurice’s gentle pedal steel swells"
PopMatters
2

lowcountry

4 mentions

"The dreamy, eclectic “Lowcountry” closes out the record."
PopMatters
3

limelight, illegally

3 mentions

"On “Limelight, Illegally”, the sounds that make No Floor unique are all on display"
PopMatters
“Hopfields” opens No Floor with Rousay’s acoustic guitar fingerpicking alongside Maurice’s gentle pedal steel swells
P
PopMatters
about "hopfields"
Read full review
4 mentions
89% sentiment

Track Ratings

How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.

View:
1

hopfields

4 mentions
100
08:16
2

kinda tropical

4 mentions
66
03:16
3

the applebees outside kalamazoo, michigan

3 mentions
15
05:57
4

limelight, illegally

3 mentions
95
06:38
5

lowcountry

4 mentions
100
06:48

What Critics Are Saying

Deep insights from 5 critics who reviewed this album

Critic's Take

more eaze and Claire Rousay’s no floor finds its strongest moments in intimate, unsettling textures - the best songs on no floor like “Hopfields” and “Lowcountry” trade loudness for strangeness and heartbreak. Chris Ingalls’ review foregrounds how “Hopfields” eases you into the record with fingerpicking and pedal steel, while “Lowcountry” closes with swelling strings and filmic resonance. The review praises the duo’s deliberate restraint and the way tracks such as “The Applebees Outside Kalamazoo, Michigan” and “Limelight, Illegally” show off their ambient country instincts and noise experiments. Taken together, these best tracks illustrate why this album feels both accessible and adventurous to longtime listeners.

Key Points

  • “Hopfields” is the best song because it perfectly introduces the album’s textured, intimate sound with fingerpicking and pedal steel.
  • The album’s core strengths are its minimalist ambient-country textures, restrained noise experiments, and emotionally resonant arrangements.

Themes

minimalism ambient country experimental noise textured soundscapes collaboration
88

Critic's Take

more eaze and claire rousay’s no floor feels like a deliberate, intimate conversation, the best songs - “limelight, illegally” and “kinda tropical” - foregrounding delicate guitar, humid pedal steel and haunting found sounds. The reviewer relishes how “limelight, illegally” pairs violin and pedal steel with quiet laughter and metallic shards, while “kinda tropical” shows claire’s picked guitar at its most gorgeous. Across the album, tracks such as “lowcountry” and “hopefields” move from ghostly stillness to hypnotic propulsion, confirming this as their most organic and free-flowing statement yet.

Key Points

  • The best song, “limelight, illegally”, is best because it marries delicate guitar, violin and humid pedal steel with found-sound details to memorable effect.
  • The album’s core strengths are its collage approach, intimate duo interplay, and an Americana-tinged palette rendered with restraint and inventiveness.

Themes

collage composition Americana-tinged instrumentation found sound as texture duo interplay ambient country

Critic's Take

The record finds more eaze & claire rousay turning barroom memories into spacious instrumentals on no floor, and the best tracks lean into that intimacy - notably “Hopfields” and “Lowcountry”, which frame the album with brittle guitar, yearning pedal steel, and a triumphant closing. “Kinda Tropical” and “Limelight, Illegally” show their knack for ambient storytelling, using field recordings and lurching strings to evoke specific places and uneasy travel. For listeners asking "best songs on no floor," start with “Hopfields” for its tender familiarity and “Lowcountry” for its cathartic culmination.

Key Points

  • “Hopfields” is the best song because it establishes the album’s tender familiarity with brittle guitar and yearning pedal steel.
  • The album’s core strength is its evocative, American road-trip ambience built from found sound, ambient synths, and intimate instrumentation.

Themes

friendship found sound ambient instrumental storytelling American/road-trip imagery interwoven careers

Critic's Take

more eaze & claire rousay channel an elegiac, widescreen intimacy on no floor, where the best songs - notably “Hopfields” and “Lowcountry” - crystallize the album's uneasy beauty. The opener “Hopfields” evokes biking through suburbia, sunlit yet haunted, and it stands out as a highlight precisely because the warmth is threaded with hostility. Mid-album pieces like “Kinda Tropical” trade conventional development for fragmented resonance, letting brief acoustic gestures linger as emotional punctuation. The record closes with the luminous strings of “Lowcountry”, which bloom and then cut to passing cars, encapsulating the album's dream always at risk of interruption.

Key Points

  • “Hopfields” is best because it pairs sunlit melodic warmth with an undercurrent of suburban hostility, making it emotionally vivid.
  • The album's core strengths are its ambient americana textures, pedal steel warmth, and the tension between dreamlike moments and abrupt reality.

Themes

ambient americana desolation pedal steel dream vs reality experimentation