Ten Year Drought

The Laurentian Season
For their second release, these Windsor cosmic cowboys continue to casually flip their way through the Red House Painters' chit book -- which may be a lazy analogy, but then Ten Year Drought are so effective at easing you into a slumberous state of mind. Ten Year Drought assume the same spectral majesty as Mark Kozolek not through straight-up emulation but rather through a mutual embrace of patience as a guiding principle: guitarist Adam Fox's voice rarely rises above breathy resignation; songs slowly accrue mantric power through extended repetition. Theirs is a world where salvation comes only to the most emotionally invested, but as the gorgeous chiming guitars that emerge two-thirds into the eight-minute "Wedding Photo" confirm, there's a glimmer at the end of this tunnel that's worth sticking around for.
- S.B., Eye Magazine, December 2003 - Eye Magazine

This foursome from Ontario is not a jolly bunch, and from their second album they wouldn’t have you believe any differently. Introspection and emotions are the order of the day here and they couldn’t do it any less self-indulgently. The sincerity behind these eight songs comes through with each slow and deliberate note — one of the greatest strengths is the way the music just ambles along in such a casual way behind Adam Fox’s under-embellished singing. His voice is in such contrast to his fanciful guitar styling that it’s hard to think they come from the same person. He takes his instrument on beautifully serene and melancholy journeys while keeping things in the vocal department appropriately muted and restrained. The vocal melodies on the melodious “Still Inside” work wonders in mixing it up a bit, but by track five, “Drain and Fade,” Fox proves his style can sustain as all of a sudden you feel like your heart weighs several pounds more. The slide guitar adds a sleepy feel and they also cleverly drop in piano tinkling and violin stroking. Overall melodic and shoegaze-y, but the songs don’t get lost in wishy-washiness and most importantly, they get you where it counts. These are songs for the end of your day. This is music that makes you hear what a sunset would sound like if it was a song.
- Coreen Wolanski, March 2004 - Exclaim! Magazine

Southwest Ontario's ten year drought captures the promise and despair of traveling down a dusty, bleak road leading who knows where, just so long as we hit a one-pump gas station soon. A wistful look out the window, lazily losing count of the kilometer markers, sleepy wet eyes, not talking. Regretting age-old arguments in our hearts, stubbornness in our minds and hoping our mystery train destination brings better times. Adam Fox (guitar, vocals) took a similar trip in '98, moving from the gleaming plastic metropolis of Toronto to the barren landscape of the lonely country town of Harrow. There he drew from dry wells to paste together ten year drought, a passionate rendering of complacency and restraint, at the point immediately prior to forfeiting any chance, one last gasp. Gorgeous guitar moans, sinking fatigued vocals and spacious echo leave the listener motionless but moved.
- Melissa Giannini, Metro Times, 2001 - Metro Times, Detroit

The Motorists Prayer E.P.
**** (4 stars)
This Windsor area crew apply a fresh, radiant coat of Red House Paint onto the venerable sad-eyed strummer model, but possess an appreciation for angelic harmonies that spare them the Prozac-poster children fate. Like RHP's Mark Kozelek, Ten Year Drought draughtsman Adam Fox sighs as much as he sings, with a breathy croon that subtly elevates his seemingly bleak, rustic-decored narratives to dream-like states. An ideal complement to October late-afternoon drive through the "death valley" stretch of the 401 southwest of London, where the feeling of cold dread is offset by the knowledge that up around the bend awaits the most glorious sunset this side of South America.
- S.B., Eye Magazine, 2001 - Eye Magazine