-  All Songs Considered, NPR

"Nick Castro & the Young Elders throw a nouveaux-folk free-for all ... On "Come Into Our House," the new album by L.A.'s Nick Castro & the Young Elders, exotic sounds are always waiting to run away with the melodic line or shift the vibe over several continents. It's a neo-folk trip on steroids."

- Frank Farrar, LA TIMES

"Paisley headbands have supplanted trucker caps as hipster headgear, but it's tough believing all these new folkies hit puberty digging ISB, Jansch, and Vashti Bunyan. (If Harry Smith were alive, I'd pay him to do alchemical background checks.) At least judging from a quick Google search, one of the more legit sounding players, Nick Castro, has nothing to hide. L.A.'s acid troubadour played in improvisational Children of Gauhd, and he runs the imprint/distribution service Records of Gauhd. Before that he rocked to Arthur Lee and the Kinks. Nowadays, his mournful psych structures are less peculiar than Newsom and occasionally include a stilted mannerism absent from the hairy-fairy Manson/Donovan posse. Still, the stuff's gorgeous, and he allows freewheeling variations to leak into moon-altar paeans via a fl backup crew, the Poison Tree: Josephine Foster's a flanged banshee; Espers jam cello and dulcimer into multiple crannies. Actually, Castro himself handles an armload, and his "Music For Mijwiz," a raging Middle Eastern street jamboree, suggests a corner of the enchanted glen where dude should set up camp more regularly."

- Brandon Stosuy, VILLAGE VOICE

"A member of the new millennium's flock of psychedelic folk revivalists, L.A.'s Nick Castro surrounds himself with a changing lineup of musicians for each expansive, eccentric outing, although he started out practically solo on his debut, A Spy in the House of God. As Castro's backing band has changed, so too has his sound grown and matured. His most finely tuned, fully realized ensemble, the Young Elders, with which he made 2006's gorgeous Come into Our House, consists of members from an array of relevant experimental acts, including Cul de Sac and Current 93. Castro's style draws from an internationally broad spectrum of music, and as a result his sound is an amalgamation of '60s British folk, Appalachian balladry, acid rock, and classic Middle Eastern music. No doubt the many talented multi-instrumentalists he works with help make this melting pot of influences successful; the music feels as deeply poignant and personal as it is universal and far-reaching. Nick Castro excels at serene expression, flawlessly crafting songs and psychedelic jams wrought with tradition and introspective, relaxed beauty."

- ALL MUSIC GUIDE

"On Further From Grace, the second album from Nick Castro, the hirsute L.A.-based troubadour has wisely taken full advantage of the extensive network of inspired folk eccentrics currently mushrooming across the countryside. Featuring appearances from Josephine Foster and Espers' Meg Baird, in addition to the uniformly stellar work of his crack(ed) band the Poison Tree, Further From Grace positively shimmers with willowy, sun-dappled ensemble playing, and firmly establishes Castro as yet another noteworthy voice of the present acid folk resurgence.

As is the case with Philadelphia's Espers, Castro's music hearkens less to old-timey American forms of Appalachian folk or country blues than it does to the golden age of 60s-70s UK folk-rock, as practiced by groups like the Incredible String Band or Mellow Candle. Inching softly away from some of the more blatant Donovan/ Syd Barrett solo emanations of his 2004 self-released debut A Spy in the House of God, here Castro and company employ an ambitious menu of exotic acoustic instruments to forge a verdant, medieval-tinged sound, one which draws on any number of pan-global folk traditions. And though there are times when the album threatens to capsize beneath its own preciousness (such as on the delightful, flute-centric "To This Earth", which incautiously risks floating away like a puff of new-agey Celtic Myst) the strength of Castro's melodic compositions and the group's deft musicianship should manage to enchant any but the most Hobbit-phobic listeners."

- Matthew Murphy, PITCHFORK MEDIA

"Nick Castro's Further From Grace is the singer-songwriter's second full-length disc following last year's A Spy in the House of God, released on his own Records of Gauhd label. Whereas that affair was a predominantly solo effort, his newest disc finds his songs buttressed by backing band the Poison Tree, an ensemble comprised mostly of players associated with the Philadelphia-based Espers. The resulting album thus explores more opulent folk rock moves in addition to the more refined acid folk figures he cut across his debut.

Castro's music tends to cite the same reference points as his Espers' cohorts - an increasingly familiar blend of British and American folkies and bluesmen - so it's no surprise that the Poison Tree more than capably complements the lilt and strum of his songs. Otto Hauser's percussion and Helena Espvall's cello lace "Sun Song," the album's opener, with a subtle hit of darkness, making for a nice gallop and an intriguing counterpoint for Josephine Foster's ghostly, disembodied "voices." The band takes a more stately approach on "Waltz for Little Bird," with Castro relying mostly on understated organ and piano lines that form a neat contrast to the wanton horn phrases.

Ultimately, it's these full band dalliances that make for the highlights on the record. On the eerie "Music for Mijwiz," Castro takes the titular double-piped reed instrument through somber processionals, allowing Hauser ample room to explore blistering dumbek rhythms. "Deep Deep Sea" is another keeper, with the accompaniment pursuing a more relentless course than anything that's passed before, ultimately giving way to Castro's gentle croon."

- Michael Crumsho, DUSTED MAGAZINE

"With his third full-length album, LA-based Nick Castro both solidifies his place in the psyche folk movement and sets himself apart from it.  No one--not Vashti Bunyan, not Joanna Newsom, not the Vermont collective Feathers--can conjure pennywhistled melancholy the way that Castro can, or the misty heartache of traditional British folk.  However, as with last year's Further From Grace , Castro refuses to be hemmed in by any sort of musical tradition, borrowing freely not just from English folk, but from Middle Eastern music, jazz and other traditions as well. 

  So there's an exotic cast to even the simplest sounding of these melodies--the glorious folk harmonies of "Winding Tree" are punctuated by the slap of Middle Eastern hand drums.  The lovely "Sleeping in a Dream" has a cavernous and somber resonance to it--Castro sounds a good bit like Bert Jansch here--as it winds through its first melodic half.  After the chorus fades, though, there's an interlude of dueling drums and gongs, as wild and unfolky as an African campsite. Like Incredible String Band, Castro has found the intersection of European folk and world music, drawing connections and contrasts in odd rhythms, sudden dissonances and unusual instruments.  And like ISB, he is an inveterate collector of musical instruments.  The liner notes list more than 20 different instruments used in making Come Into Our House , and Castro himself plays nine of them, including exotics like oud, saz and harmonium.  "Attar", coming halfway through the album sounds particularly world-spanning, with its wonderful pulse of electric bass cutting through a haze of non-western drums.  The stringed instruments weave close harmonies, at times a jaunty minor-key sea shanty, at other times as foreign as a Middle Eastern spice market.  The sound is often orchestrally dense reflecting a large and varied group of collaborators.  Particularly strong efforts come from drummer Chris Guttmacher (who has worked with Cul de Sac and Damo Suzuki), cellist John Contreras and singer Wendy Watson."

-  Jennifer Kelly, POP MATTERS

"Here is a disc I've been playing to death lately - a CD that could well end up being one of the year's finest (whether it is recognised as such or not in the fickle world of neo/freak/folk is another matter). Nick achieved some kind of breakthrough on 2005's "Further From Grace", which I summed up elsewhere to be "the kind of album that refuses - and is in fact demeaned by - easy reference points in the present and past, existing as a sui generis masterpiece of new acoustic music, and a model for what might fly in the future to replace to already tattered and stained flag of freak folk. British, American and Middle-Eastern traditions are respectfully drawn together, and its difficult to imagine improving on any decision made on the record". On "Further From Grace" Nick was backed by "The Poison Tree", which included Josephine Foster and members of Espers. For "Come Into Our House" he has gathered "The Young Elders" - a fine assemblage of musicians including John Contreras, who is so effective on the latest Current 93 CD; B'eirth, driving force behind In Gowan Ring and Birch Book, and various members of Cul de Sac and Damo Suzuki's Network. This new line-up has allowed Castro to achieve a vision that is cinematic in scale and faultless in execution.

    The disc opens with "Winding Tree", which echoes the mellow 70s UK folk of the Village Thing label, and The Sun Also Rises album in particular, with its intertwining male and female vocals and recorder. A beautiful Renbourn-ish guitar pattern introduces the exquisitely-wrought "Sleeping in a Dream", which transitions from a dreamy west coast singer-songwriter vibe, to a hypnagogic percussive conclusion. Taste and restraint, rather than self-involved quirkiness, is thankfully the key here. The work of John Renbourn is also recalled by the stately, almost medieval, instrumental "Picollina", on which Castro lays down a stunning guitar motif which is gradually picked up by more and more instruments. The fluent folk-rock of "One I Love" (a Jean Ritchie cover) could be a lost Trees out-take, with long-time Castro collaborator Wendy Watson contributes some fine vocal work, and swathes of beautifully phrased, multi-tracked electric guitar from Castro tripping off into psychedelic realms. The CD then takes a distinctly Middle-Eastern turn with the snaking instrumental "Attar" and the shimmering and suspenseful dune-scape of "Voices from the Mountains". The latter suggests that Castro may have a career in film music should he choose to go that route. The finely tuned song-craft in "Back to the Coast" leads into the first of two lengthy workouts. The first, "Lay Down Your Arms" is a communal acid mantra of monumental proportions, its raga structure evoking Monterey and the birth of the late 60s Bay Area ballroom scene, as well as German touchstones like Amon Duul 2 and Can. The second, "Promises Unbroken", is progressive folk of the Can variety; Contreras' cello introducing a caravanserai of a piece with many stop-overs in exotic destinations. It's a compositional tour-de-force, and a fitting way to conclude a CD with which Castro signals his arrival as a major progressive folk force independent of any scene, or place in time."

-Tony Dale, PTOLEMAIC TERRASCOPE