Never Were the Way She Was is a collaborative album by Colin Stetson and Sarah Neufeld, released on April 28, 2015 by Constellation Records. It was recorded live in the studio without the use of overdubs or loops[1] at the End of the World studio in Vermont.[2] Neufeld and Stetson had first met in 2006 when Neufeld's Bell Orchestre shared a bill with Antibalas, who Stetson was playing with.[2] The two artists had previously collaborated on the soundtrack to the 2013 film Blue Caprice.[3] The album received favorable reviews and won a Juno Award.
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Never Were the Way She Was received an average score of 81, based on 19 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[4]AllMusic reviewer Thom Jurek said that the album was too short, commenting that the songs "last only as long as they hold interest for the players, though they all create a real desire for more in the listener - which is no complaint at all."[1] Alexander Tudor of Drowned in Sound called the album a "triumph for instrumental music" and said that Stetson and Neufeld "work perfectly; long may they continue to work together."[5]NME reviewer Cian Traynor said that the pairing was "seamless" and that the album contained "expertly controlled energy" which "unfolds like a well-crafted score to an imagined film."[6] Harley Brown of Spin called it a "cohesive meditation on the legacy of avant-garde greats" and said it was "an essential part of Stetson and Neufeld's own impressive canons."[3] In his review for Pitchfork, Jayson Greene said the album was an "implicit reminder of the things that can be done with two instruments and two hands."[7]Never Were the Way She Was won the 2016 Juno Award for Instrumental Album of the Year.[8] The album was also longlisted nominee for the 2015 Polaris Music Prize.[9]
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