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The album was preceded by the singles, "The Possum", "Garden of Lavender" and "Ali/Spinks 2", and features contributions from Sonic Youth drummer and Benji collaborator Steve Shelley.[1] Noting the "spoken segments, garage-rock and pretty acoustic passages", Jon Dennis of The Guardian described the overall sound of the album as "intimate and minimal".[2]
Upon its release, Universal Themes received acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album currently holds an average score of 79, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[4] Corbin Reiff of The A.V. Club wrote that Universal Themes "lives up to the promise of its vague title", and while Kozelek "keeps the actual events described in the music as personal to himself as they ever been, the experiences and the feelings they evoke are relatable on a hundred different levels."[6] Noting its "increased rawness" in comparison to Sun Kil Moon's previous work, Consequence of Sound's Dan Caffrey called Universal Themes the band's most demanding album, whilst concluding that it "might be one of the most in-the-moment albums ever made".[7] Paul Simpson of AllMusic noted that "like Benji, Universal Themes is a challenging listen, and some might view it as Kozelek's most indulgent album yet," but that Kozelek's "brilliant musicianship and guitar playing combined with his fascinating storytelling skills ensure that his music is as poignant and life-affirming as ever, and the album is yet another success in his remarkable catalog."[5]
While stating that Kozelek's veering "between wry, pissed-off, and ruminative expression without ever really settling on any of those" means that the album "never reaches the same highs as Benji", Jeremy Winograd of Slant Magazine wrote that "it does allow the listener to become fully immersed inside Kozelek's head, which is an alternately terrifying and hilarious place to be."[14] In a mixed assessment, Observer critic Kitty Empire stated that Universal Themes "may test the patience of later adopters".[15] Mark Richardson of Pitchfork stated that Universal Themes is "ultimately a spotty album from a guy who has released a lot of spotty albums."[10]
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