Witching Hour

Production

Ladytron began working on demos for Witching Hour immediately after concluding Light & Magic tour with a homecoming gig in Liverpool in September 2003, where they were supported by Franz Ferdinand. Within a few months, they had mapped out the entire record.

By the time they were ready to start recording in April 2004, their UK label Telstar Records had gone into administration. Their US label, Emperor Norton, also had problems: the company was purchased by Rykodisc in 2004 and was then shut down later that year, with Rykodisc inheriting its back catalogue.

The band announced on 7 December 2004 that they signed to Island Records. By June 2004, the album was ready, except mixed.

This album was recorded in 2004 at Elevator Studios in Liverpool, and it was produced by Ladytron and Jim Abbiss. They also had two collaborators: Pop Levi played bass and Keith York played drums.

In a 2005 interview for XLR8R, Daniel Hunt shared some information about the equipment used on Witching Hour: "most of the bassy riffs are a Roland SH-2 or a Korg MS-20. Reuben especially likes sticking his Korg MS-10 through Electro Harmonix boxes and fattening them up. For the poly stuff, we used Farfisa organs and Solina string machines–basically the same stuff we've used all along, but we probably treated it a bit rougher. We also used a load of the producer's toys as well–Reuben's got an ARP 2600, which you can sit around with for a full day trying to get something useful out of and fail, and the next day you switch it on and it'll automatically make something genius. I've got this really shit, five-pound, sub-Casio keyboard that I got off this trader; the chords for 'International Dateline' were written on that. It's good to have that kind of gear. The shit toys can end up being quite inspirational".

Regarding their approach as producers, he also added: "our approach goes back to the whole Eno/Bowie Low thing – the treatments are as important as the synths. We like to confuse synths and guitars quite a lot–there are some things people hear they assume is a guitar that's a synth and vice versa. On the last album, there were guitars all over 'Cease2xist' and a few of the other songs, but they were treated in a way that people didn't recognize them".

Release

Witching Hour was released on 3 October 2005 in the United Kingdom by Island Records and on 4 October 2005 in Europe by Universal Music Group and United States by Rykodisc.

The initial pressings included at the end of the album, an untitled 9 minutes and 3 seconds track of complete silence, not listed on back of jewel case insert. Some editions didn't include the instrumental "CMYK". The silence and the omission of "CMYK" makes the album exactly one hour long, as a nod to the album's title.

Island also released a limited edition containing a bonus DVD with the music videos of "Seventeen", "Sugar", "Destroy Everything You Touch", and the documentary Once Upon a Time in the East: Ladytron in China, detailing highlights of their 2004 tour across China.

Major Records released on 5 April 2007 in Europe a special edition of the album, including a bonus disc with remixes and B-sides. So Sweet Records did the same on 5 November 2007 in the United Kingdom and the United States, with a different bonus disc.

The album was re-released by Nettwerk on 18 January 2011 in the United States and on 24 January 2011 in the United Kingdom. This edition included four additional remixes.

Singles

Four singles were released from Witching Hour: "Sugar" on 20 June 2005, "Destroy Everything You Touch" on 19 September 2005, "Weekend" in 2005, and "Soft Power" in 2007. "International Dateline" was issued as a promotional single in 2005. "Destroy Everything You Touch" reached number 42 on the UK Singles Chart, the highest position a Ladytron single has reached to date. It also became the band's best known song.

The album was also promoted by two music videos: "Sugar" (directed by Andy Roberts) and "Destroy Everything You Touch" (directed by Adam Bartley). The unfinished video for "International Dateline" was rediscovered and finished by Daniel Hunt in 2012, and premiered on 22 February 2013. According to Daniel Hunt, the band wanted to make a video for "Soft Power", but the plans were abandoned.

Critical reception

Witching Hour received positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 78, based on 21 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".

According to Tiny Mix Tapes, "the standouts are too numerous to mention, and all in all, Ladytron have set a new peak, getting to the heart of their best previous moments and expanding on them". Mark Pytlik, writing for Pitchfork Media, rated the album 8.3 and described it as "the most urgent and immediate of their career" and also as a "quantum leap record".

Edward Oculicz of Stylus Magazine scored Witching Hour a B+ and said that "those who have loved Ladytron's move toward a mix of harsher electro and lighter pop elements will find this a welcome progression, and seemingly a natural one, too". Heather Phares of AllMusic rated the album four stars of five and said that "Witching Hour is the album that Ladytron always seemed capable of, and its dark, dreamy-yet-catchy spell makes it the band's most sophisticated, and best, work to date".

The Guardian described the album as "their most humane work, with abrasive atmospherics akin to those of My Bloody Valentine" and gave it a 4 stars of 5 rating. Keith Phipps of The A.V. Club felt that "The Witching Hour doesn't vary much from the pattern established by its predecessors, but it's every bit as beguiling".

Adrien Begrand, writing for PopMatters, gave the album an 8/10 rating and also said: "while Witching Hour has the band sounding more adventurous, there's a consistency to the tracks that holds it all together". NME described the album as "a record that rather makes one want to have sex". Kate Collier of Prefix Magazine rated the album 8.0 and said that "Ladytron's greatest accomplishment here is the atmosphere of cool beauty it creates immediately and maintains to the finish. It's rare for an album to transport you so fully onto its own terrain, and Witching Hour is a worthwhile retreat".

Track listing

All tracks written by Ladytron.

Witching Hour (Remixed & Rare)

On 20 December 2011, Nettwerk released a compilation of remixes, B-sides and rarities titled Witching Hour (Remixed & Rare). The cover is the negative of the Witching Hour cover.

Personnel