Breathe (Erasure song)

"Breathe" is a song by British synthpop duo Erasure. It was released by Mute Records in the UK and the U.S. as the first single from the band's eleventh studio album Nightbird.

Contents

• CD single 1 CDMUTE330
• CD single 2 LCDMUTE330
• US CD Maxi Single Catalog 9259 2
• DVD single DVDMUTE330
• Digital download iMUTE330
• References

Written and produced by Vince Clarke and Andy Bell, the track is a mid-tempo love song similar in musical style to their 1994 hit "Always", albeit with more uplifting lyrical content. "Breathe" was remixed slightly for its radio version — most notably in the song's introduction. The UK compact disc single included CD-ROM information that allowed buyers to download the Digipro software package and use isolated musical tracks of "Breathe" to create their own remixes. For a time fans were able to upload their finished "Breathe" remixes to Erasure's website to share with others.

The single was widely regarded as a major return to form by critics and fans alike, leading to comparisons to Erasure's glory days of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when The Innocents and Chorus both topped the UK album charts.

"Breathe" also resonated with the record-buying public and hit number four on the UK singles chart, Erasure's highest-charting UK single since "Always" a decade earlier. In the United States, Erasure entered the Hot Dance Club Play chart for the first time in eight years and scored their second U.S. dance chart-topper — the first being "Victim of Love" in 1987. In Germany, "Breathe" was Erasure's twentieth Top 40 single, peaking at number thirty-five. It topped the singles chart in Denmark. On the Top 60 chats in Sweden it peaked at 33.