2013 studio album by London Grammar
If You Wait
Released 6 September 2013 (2013-09-06 ) Recorded 2012–2013 Studio
Genre
Length 43 :22
Label
Producer
If You Wait is the debut studio album by English
indie pop band
London Grammar , released on 6 September 2013 by Metal & Dust Recordings and
Ministry of Sound . Seven singles were released from the album: "
Metal & Dust ", "
Wasting My Young Years ", "
Strong ", "
Nightcall ", "
Hey Now ", "Sights" and "If You Wait". The album debuted at number two on the
UK Albums Chart with first-week sales of 33,130 copies.
After signing with
Ministry of Sound and Big Life Management, the band began the first sessions of the album in early 2012 with
Cam Blackwood . Later that year he was replaced by
Tim Bran and
Roy Kerr . Hannah Reid commented on the collaboration, saying, "Tim is amazing at recording, of finding the best way of recording a guitar or my vocal. Roy had the strongest relationship with Dot and they worked on production together."
[6]
The album's lyrics are mainly based upon vocalist Hannah Reid's personal life, in particular her troubled teenage years,
[7] prompting
The Guardian to suggest that this was "the first quarter-life-crisis album."
[7]
If You Wait received generally positive reviews from music critics. At
Metacritic , which assigns a
normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an
average score of 75, based on 19 reviews.
[9]
Andy Gill of
The Independent summarised the album's production and instrumentation as "all beautifully sketched to evoke the crepuscular intimacies of the songs."
[13]
A large quantity of praise went to the vocal ability of Reid, whose husky
contralto vocals have been described as "defining and soulful" by
Clash magazine
[20] and "emotive" and "folky" by
Drowned in Sound .
[3] Her voice has been compared to artists like
Florence Welch of
Florence and the Machine ,
[21]
Annie Lennox ,
[13]
[22] and
Julee Cruise .
[13] Benji Taylor of Pretty Much Amazing wrote a favourable review of the album, calling it "an enthralling, stunning, deeply emotive album that perfectly marries understated electronica to sublime vocals and melodies." Vocalist Hannah Reid's voice was particularly praised: "underscored by an enduring brittle beauty and an underlying otherworldliness, as if she honed her craft singing amidst the gardens of Lothlorien, or some far-flung corner of Westeros."
[1]
If You Wait entered the
UK Albums Chart at number two, selling 33,130 copies in its first week.
[23] As of June 2017, it had sold 642,301 copies in the United Kingdom.
[24] In the United States, the album debuted at number 91 on the
Billboard 200 with 4,000 copies sold.
[25]
All tracks produced by
Tim Bran ,
Roy Kerr and
London Grammar , except where noted.
Title Lyrics Music 1. "
Hey Now " Hannah Reid Reid Daniel Rothman Dot Major 3:27 2. "Stay Awake" Reid 3:05 3. "Shyer" Reid 3:07 4. "
Wasting My Young Years " Reid Reid 3:24 5. "Sights" Reid 4:13 6. "
Strong " Reid 4:35 7. "
Nightcall " 4:30 8. "
Metal & Dust " Reid 3:28 9. "Interlude" (live) Reid Reid 4:04 10. "Flickers" 4:45 11. "If You Wait" Reid Reid 4:44 Total length: 43:22
US edition bonus tracks
[26]
[27] Title Lyrics Music Producer(s) 12. "High Life" Reid 4:03 13. "Maybe" Reid 4:23 14. "Strong" (US radio edit) Reid 4:10 Total length: 55:58
Japanese edition bonus tracks
[28] Title Lyrics Music Producer(s) 12. "Help" Reid 3:53 13. "Darling Are You Gonna Leave Me" Reid 3:02 14. "High Life" Reid 4:03 15. "Maybe" Reid 4:23 16. "When We Were Young" Reid 3:06 17. "Feelings" 3:46 18. "Everywhere You Go" 3:42 Total length: 69:17
Deluxe edition and French collector's edition bonus disc
[29]
[30] Title Lyrics Music Producer(s) 1. "Help" Reid 3:53 2. "Darling Are You Gonna Leave Me" Reid 3:02 3. "
Help Me Lose My Mind " (
Disclosure featuring London Grammar) Reid Disclosure 4:06 4. "High Life" Reid 4:03 5. "Maybe" Reid 4:23 6. "When We Were Young" Reid 3:06 Total length: 22:33
^[a] signifies a co-producer
Credits adapted from the liner notes of If You Wait .
[31]
Hannah Reid
Daniel Rothman
Dot Major
Tim Bran – additional programming (all tracks) ; additional keyboards (tracks 4, 7)
Roy Kerr – additional programming
Dot Major – additional programming (tracks 4, 7)
Wil Malone – string arrangements, string conducting (tracks 4, 5, 8, 11)
Tony Stanton – strings preparation (tracks 4, 5, 8, 11)
City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra – strings (tracks 4, 5, 8, 11)
Tim Bran – production
Roy Kerr – production
London Grammar – production
Manon Grandjean – engineering
Ben Siegal – engineering (tracks 3, 8, 10, 11) ; vocal recording, piano recording (track 11)
Jan Holzner – string recording (tracks 4, 5, 8, 11)
James Fitzpatrick – orchestra contractor (tracks 4, 5, 8, 11)
Kevin "KD" Davis – mixing
Tom Coyne – mastering
Mat Maitland – art direction
Markus Karlsson – art direction
Lee Kirby – photography
^ Vocals on tracks 2–10
^ Strings on tracks 4, 5, 8 and 11
^
a
b Taylor, Benji (9 September 2013).
"Review: London Grammar – If You Wait " . Pretty Much Amazing . Archived from
the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 4 March 2015 .
^ Bracaglia, Kate (28 January 2015).
"Our weekly concert picks: January 28–February 3" .
Philly.com . Retrieved 4 March 2015 .
^
a
b Fenwick, Tom (5 September 2013).
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^
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^
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^
[1]
Archived 7 March 2016 at the
Wayback Machine Russell Dean Stone, London Grammar', BEAT Magazine, 16 October 2013
^
a
b Wolfson, Sam (5 September 2013).
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^
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AnyDecentMusic? . Retrieved 31 December 2019 .
^
a
b
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^
a
b
c
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ISSN
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^
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^
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^
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^
a
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^
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a
b
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^
a
b
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^
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^
a
b
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London Grammar . Metal & Dust Recordings. 2013. MADART1.{{
cite AV media notes }}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (
link )
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