La Petite Mort (James album)

Critical reception

Reviews of the album have been generally good, mentioning that there were a few tracks that could already be considered as classic James, e.g. 'Moving On', 'Frozen Britain'. The Daily Express called the album: "a beautiful set of moving and inspiring songs" and the reviewer goes as far as to affirm: "It's one of my favourite albums of the year" and that "This record could be described as life affirming or as a great comeback album but I am happy to see James out playing recording and connecting with that ever faithful audience." Renowned for Sound gave the album 3.5 out of 5 and summarised the album as follows: "La Petite Mort is a solid effort from [the] band... For the most part, the writing is focused, the production is polished and Booth’s vocals standout in a manner we are used to hearing. Sure there are a few misfires, but here’s nothing wrong with experimenting your sound. However saying that, only James do James best and after all these years, that classic James sound is what we want to hear." The review by Gigslutz says: "The album itself has a very theatrical swing to it" and "‘La Petite Mort’ may mean ‘The Little Death’, but this record has all the makings of a rebirth, signalling a refreshed sound from Booth and co.".

Virgin Media's review states: "after nearly 30 years, the idiosyncratic, quixotic James are always worth persevering with", but only gives it 3 stars out of 5 as they do not particularly like the 2nd half of the album. MusicOMH give the album 3.5/5 stars and comes to the conclusion "Bookended with two (almost) James classics, the album’s probably better than expected" but thinks that "too often, the production strips away the potential majesty".

Track listing

1. "Walk Like You"
2. "Curse Curse"
3. "Moving On"
4. "Gone Baby Gone"
5. "Frozen Britain"
6. "Interrogation"
7. "Bitter Virtue"
8. "All In My Mind"
9. "Quicken the Dead"
10. "All I'm Saying"
11. "Whistleblowers" (iTunes only bonus track)