Length 47:26 Release date 21 April 2015 | Artist Alabama Shakes Label ATO Records | |
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Released April 21, 2015 (2015-04-21) Producer Blake Mills, Alabama Shakes Genres Soul music, Americana, Southern rock, Garage rock Awards Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album, Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical Similar Boys & Girls, The Silver Lining: The Songs of, Traveller, The Muscle Shoals Recordings, For One to Love | ||
Sound & Color is the second studio album by American rock band Alabama Shakes. It was released on April 21, 2015 via ATO Records, MapleMusic Recordings and Rough Trade Records.
Contents
The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in the U.S., giving the band their first chart-topper; globally, the album hit the top ten in Australia, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Sound & Color was a critical success and received six Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year. It ultimately won 4 for Best Alternative Music Album, Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, as well as Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song for "Don't Wanna Fight". It spawned four singles; "Don't Wanna Fight" was the most successful, peaking at number two on Billboard's Adult Alternative Songs chart.
Background
Alabama Shakes began recording their second album in late 2013. The group listened to anything and everything for influence, without regard for its public reception in the end. They spent over a year in the studio, with no clear end-goal, as they had not written any new songs due to their exhaustive touring schedule. Sound & Color is steeped in several different genres, touching on shoegaze to bands such as MC5.
In promotion of Sound & Color, the group appeared on Saturday Night Live on February 28, 2015; they performed the singles "Gimme All Your Love" and "Don't Wanna Fight".
Commercial performance
The album debuted atop the US Billboard 200 chart, earning 96,000 album-equivalent units (91,000 copies of traditional album sales) in its first week, in the week ending April 26, 2015, making it the band's first number one album. The album has sold 306,000 copies in the US as of December 2015.
Critical reception
Upon its release, Sound & Color received positive reviews. At the review aggregator Metacritic, the album currently holds a score of 80 based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Writing for Exclaim!, Andrea Warner called the record a "deliberately weird record, but authentically weird; it's chaotic yet cohesive, full of sound, colour and unshakable vision." Barry Nicholson of NME compared it favorably to the band's first album, writing, "whereas their debut was cast in sepia hues and downhome earthiness, its follow-up is a more kaleidoscopic affair."
Accolades
Sound & Color garnered six nominations at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards; it was nominated for the Album of the Year, marking the group's first nomination in the category. The album was also nominated for Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical (Blake Mills), and won Best Alternative Music Album, Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical (Shawn Everett and Bob Ludwig). "Don't Wanna Fight" won for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song.
* denotes an unordered list
Track listing
All tracks written by Brittany Howard, with help from Blake Mills on "Future People", "Guess Who" and "Gemini".
Personnel
Credits adapted from Sound & Color liner notes.
Songs
1Sound & Color3:03
2Don't Wanna Fight3:52
3Dunes4:18