Sadness Sets Me Free is the eighth studio album by Welsh musician Gruff Rhys, released on 26 January 2024 through Rough Trade Records.

[3] Mojo's James McNair wrote that "though it stops well short of the ardent self-loathing that fired Radiohead's Creep, a pronounced seam of self-criticism runs through" the album, despite concluding that "the music is often uplifting; a stoical and pro-active salve against troubles local and global".

[7] Uncut's Pete Paphides observed that "on an album of songs that 'feel melancholic or... deal with shit things,' it's important to state that, at no point, does the listener feel like they're taking a holiday in someone else's misery".

[5] Joe Muggs of The Arts Desk found the songs to have a "subdued nature" but called them "so damn good, they could take a lot more lavishness and sparkle.

[4] Nathan Whittle of Louder Than War wrote that on Sadness Sets Me Free, "Gruff Rhys delivers a spellbindingly oxymoronic display; the low-key nature of the songs results in grandness, the darkness of the content providing hope".