Jerskin Fendrix Once Upon A Time... In Shropshire
Released Oct 10, 2025 untitled (recs)
Consensus forming 4 professional reviews Updated Oct 1, 2026
Broadly positive consensus
Consensus is still forming across 4 professional reviews. Jerskin Fendrix's Once Upon A Time...
How ChoruScore worksCritics' Top Tracks
The songs critics returned to most
The Universe
4 critic mentions
“The Universe” is defined by the warmth of Fendrix’s low voice” — Paste Magazine
Beth's Farm
2 critic mentions
“restoring the memories in detailed lyrics on the opening ‘Beth’s Farm’: "We kiss beneath the apple tree” — The Quietus
Together Again
1 critic mention
“The penultimate ballad “Together Again” transforms a self-dubbed death song into a flowery, folksy, and witty piano-led tune.” — Paste Magazine
Full critic consensus
Jerskin Fendrix's Once Upon A Time... In Shropshire reframes rural memory as a small-cinema spectacle, where grief, humor, and theatricality coexist with uncanny precision. Critics agree the record largely succeeds: across 4 professional reviews it earned an 81.75/100 consensus score, praised for its blend of melancholic memory, post-irony, and bold genre-blending. The opening impressions land as both intimate and cinematic, an album that memorializes place without sentimental flattening.
Reviewers consistently point to standout tracks that carry the album's emotional weight. “Beth's Farm” emerges repeatedly as an eerie, anthemic centerpiece, while “The Universe” and “Princess” are cited as the album's most arresting moments for orchestral tenderness and grand art-pop sweep. Critics also single out “Together Again” and “Mum & Dad” for their folksy balm and swelling crescendos, and the manic “Jerskin Fendrix Freestyle” provides jolting contrast that sharpens quieter passages. Professional reviews note how trilling piano, delicate strings, and raw vocals dissolve the distance between irony and sincerity.
While praise is dominant, accounts are nuanced: some critics celebrate the record's sincere eccentricity and memorialization, whereas others flag its theatrical excesses as occasionally overwrought. The consensus suggests Once Upon A Time... In Shropshire is a striking, often rewarding follow-up that rewards repeat listens, especially for those hunting the best songs on the record. For readers wondering whether the album is good, the critical consensus and the album's standout tracks argue that it is both ambitious and substantially accomplished, a singular entry in Fendrix's catalog ready for deeper exploration.
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Beth's Farm
Princess
Sk1
Sk2
Mum & Dad
Jerskin Fendrix Freestyle
The Universe
King Lear
Together Again
Last Night In Shropshire
Get the next albums worth your time.
Critic-backed picks in one clean digest. No clutter.
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 4 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
Jerskin Fendrix makes grief feel messy and oddly celebratory on Once Upon A Time... In Shropshire, and the best songs - particularly “Beth's Farm” and “Together Again” - do the heavy lifting. The record trades Winterreise's gloss for trilling piano, delicate violins, and raw vocals that make “Beth's Farm” a plucky, eerie lullaby and “Together Again” a penultimate, folksy balm. At times he punctures sorrow with absurdity - the manic “Jerskin Fendrix Freestyle” slices through the album like a scherzo - but that tension only sharpens the tender moments. Ultimately, those standout tracks anchor an album that memorializes a place and its people with sly humor and theatrical sincerity.
Key Points
-
“Beth’s Farm” is best because its sweet falsetto and eerie contrast distill the album’s blend of nostalgia and tragedy.
-
The album’s core strength is balancing theatrical, filmic arrangements and raw vocals with moments of absurdist humor to deepen its meditation on grief.
Themes
Critic's Take
Jerskin Fendrix renders memory as cinematic episode on Once Upon A Time... In Shropshire, where the best tracks - “Beth's Farm” and “Mum & Dad” - locate tenderness in vivid detail. The reviewer’s ear is caught by “Beth's Farm”, with its anthemic melody and rural lyric snapshots, and by “Mum & Dad”, a pensive ballad that swells into a striking crescendo. A darker, experimental turn in “Jerskin Fendrix Freestyle” provides propulsive contrast, tying the record’s filmic textures to personal history. The result is an album that celebrates moments you can warp and reconnect to through music, balancing nostalgia and invention.
Key Points
-
The best song, "Beth's Farm", is best for its vivid, memory-laden lyrics and anthemic melody.
-
The album’s core strengths are its cinematic, nostalgic arrangements and successful fusion of filmic textures with personal storytelling.
Themes
Critic's Take
Jerskin Fendrix returns with Once Upon A Time... In Shropshire, a record that bulldozes through irony to land on something very human and oddly moving. The review highlights “The Universe” as a wondrous highlight, and frames “Mum & Dad” and “Princess” as key moments - orchestral tenderness and grand art-pop respectively. The tone is admiring and a touch bemused, noting how surreal visuals and sincere memories collide to make the best tracks stand out. For listeners querying the best songs on Once Upon A Time... In Shropshire, begin with “The Universe”, then explore “Mum & Dad” and “Princess” for the album's clearest pleasures.
Key Points
-
“The Universe” is best because it crystallizes the album's sweet, melancholic sincerity.
-
The album's core strengths are its blend of eccentricity and genuine emotional clarity across varied genres.
Themes
Critic's Take
In a voice part theatrical, part rueful, Jerskin Fendrix makes Once Upon A Time... In Shropshire feel like an intimate oddity where the best tracks - “The Universe” and “Princess” - anchor the album. The reviewer's tone treats “The Universe” as a wondrous highlight, the sweet, melancholic centre that bulldozes through irony to sincere feeling. Meanwhile “Princess” supplies the grand art-pop sweep, balancing the record's bizarre jazz/rap rock moments. The result reads as post-ironic honesty rather than pastiche, and those two tracks consistently pull the album into meaningful eccentricity.
Key Points
-
The best song is “The Universe” because the reviewer calls it a 'wondrous highlight' and the melancholic emotional centre.
-
The album's core strengths are its sincere eccentricity, genre-blending arrangements, and tension between irony and feeling.