"[Life and Death of an American Fourtracker] weaves experimental, emotionally intense, melodic pop songs through contemplative, atmospheric sequences, drawing on diverse instrumentation, styles, genres and techniques. The result is a 12-song album of scope, vision, beauty, poetry, passion, and depth."  (West Coast Performer)

"Take one engineer-singer-songwriter of vision, depth, and appeal, grappling with the great ontological and epistemological questions of post-modernism and the Enlightenment. Add Sloppy Hi-FiT, rhythm, melody, diverse instrumentation, a compelling storyline, and extra lyrics from cult punk-folk hero John Darnielle (Mountain Goats, Extra Glenns). Bring far-flung indie rocker friends together from bands like Spoon, Death Cab for Cutie, Beulah, Mates of State, Kind of Like Spitting, and the Court and Spark, and trust these musicians to do what they know best. What do you get? John Vanderslice's third solo (yet collaborative) concept album, a satirical rocker about an American artist "gone crackers" and "washed up" by 19. These are 12 songs about muses, metaphysics, drugs, four-trackers, and suicide. Vanderslice named his first album after a Neutral Milk Hotel lyric; this time out, fans of the enigmatic should look for references to Marcel Duchamp, the Microphones, the Danielson Famile, Yes, and William Blake, whose poetry on the pain of existence is used as a framing device."  (Amazon.com)

"John Vanderslice has been flirting with perfection for a few years now, and if Life And Death Of An American Fourtracker isn’t quite perfect, it’s damn near close. And as if the mere mention of an album being close to perfect wasn’t already enough, Life And Death is doubly refreshing because it serves as indisputable proof that the results of even high quality digital recordings can’t compare to well-executed high-end analog recordings. Sure, as the owner of San Francisco’s Tiny Telephone Studios, John Vanderslice has access to gear and recording time a lot of bands probably don’t, but that doesn’t take anything away from the masterful way he took advantage of his situation. And it certainly doesn’t take anything away from his songs. Vanderslice writes acoustic guitar-driven songs a la Neutral Milk Hotel or a less melodramatic Bright Eyes. But it’s when his songs are given the full studio treatment that they stand out most. “Niki Oh Nikki” accomplishes everything Now It’s Overhead tried so hard to do on their self-titled record from last year. The most noticeable thing about the record is the relationship between the acoustic guitar the bass-heavy drum sound, and the way they’re accompanied, but never overshadowed, by the horns, strings and weird percussion instruments that flesh out each song. To top it all off, there’s a part in “Me and My 424” (which is a loving if slightly creepy ode to Tascam’s now essentially obsolete 4-track cassette recorder) where Vanderslice says, “Basement living always mends.” How can I not love this record?"  (Basement-life.com)

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