Length 43:30 Release date 28 August 2015 Label NETTWERK | ||
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Released 28 August 2015 (2015-08-28) Recorded March–April 2015Avast! Recording Company and Hall of JusticeSeattle, Washington Similar States, New City Blues, For Better - or Worse, When the Storms Would Co, But for All These Shrinking | ||
The paper kites a silent cause
twelvefour is the second studio album by Australian band The Paper Kites, released on 28 August 2015 by Wonderlick Entertainment and Sony Music Australia. The album's release was preceded by lead single "Electric Indigo", released on 19 June 2015. Its video, directed by Matthew J Cox, was released on 13 July. The second single, "Revelator Eyes", followed in September with a video directed by Dan Huiting. "Renegade", the third single, was released along with a video in April 2016.
Contents
- The paper kites a silent cause
- The paper kites electric indigo official music video
- Critical reception
- Track listing
- Personnel
- The Paper Kites
- Technical personnel
- Artwork
- Songs
- References
The album was written entirely between the hours of midnight and 4 a.m. due to the creativity lead singer and songwriter Sam Bentley felt arise during this time. For this reason, it has been referred to as a concept album. The album was then recorded in Seattle with American producer Phil Ek (Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses) over six weeks in March and April 2015. The band chose Ek to create a more upbeat sound compared to their previous releases, incorporating electric guitars and synthesizers into their music.
twelvefour debuted at number 8 on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart on 5 September. The band embarked on a tour of Australia from 16 October to 8 November in support of the album. They then toured the United States and Canada across November and December 2015, and Europe in January and February 2016. A film directed by Cox depicting the process of making the album was announced for release later in 2015, but has yet to surface.
The paper kites electric indigo official music video
Critical reception
Gareth Hipwell of Rolling Stone Australia gave the album three out of five stars and felt "Revelator Eyes" sounded as if "The muses of the witching hour [...] have breathed some hazy Eighties nostalgia" into Bentley's songwriting. However, Hipwell criticised his often "insubstantial lyrics". The AU Review called the album a "fluid progression of sounds and ideas" as well as "[h]ypnotic, whimsical and otherworldly". Jessica Morris of the US-based website PPcorn deemed the album "[c]omplex and delicate" as well as "profound".
Michael Smith of Renowned for Sound gave the album a perfect score of 5 out of 5 stars, opining that the change to an upbeat style was a "logical evolution" of the band's sound, and commended "Bentley's consistently moving vocals to the sheer quality of the guitar riffs that give the songs their power". Sara Tamim of Vulture Magazine was "fabulously yet not surprisingly impressed" by the band's second album, despite remarking positively on the interchange of styles and the "new, flurry sound with intergalactic guitar vibes" of opening track "Electric Indigo".
In a 4 out of 5 stars review, Roshan Clarke of TheMusic.com.au labelled the album a "gorgeous listening experience" and expressed that the "glowing album cover and moody track names like 'Electric Indigo' reflect th[e] nocturnal theme [of the record], but the warm instrumentation transcends any particular time of day". Writing for News.com.au, Mikey Cahill judged that the album is primarily devoid of egos—"what you hear is what you get". Rating the album 3 out of 5 stars, Cahill went on to state that the band sound "calm and delirious" on "Bleed Confusion" and that "Woke Up from a Dream" is "timeless Americana".
Track listing
All lyrics written by Sam Bentley; all music composed by The Paper Kites.
Personnel
Credits adapted from album liner notes.
The Paper Kites
Technical personnel
Artwork
Songs
1Electric Indigo3:44
2Renegade3:55
3Bleed Confusion4:21