Heligoland (album)

Heligoland is the fifth studio album by English electronic music duo Massive Attack, released on 8 February 2010 by Virgin Records. Named after a German archipelago, it was their first studio album in seven years, following 100th Window (2003).[1] It has been certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).[2]

Heligoland
Studio album by
Massive Attack
Released8 February 2010 (2010-02-08)
Recorded2005–2009
Studio
  • 100 Suns, Bristol
  • Robot Club, Bristol
  • Attic, Bristol
  • 13, London
  • Stickydisc Recordings, Brooklyn
  • UML / Amber, New York City
Genre
Length53:05
LabelVirgin
Producer
Massive Attack chronology
Collected
(2006)		 Heligoland
(2010)		 Ritual Spirit
(2016)
Singles from Heligoland
  1. "Psyche"
  2. "Paradise Circus"
    Released: 17 October 2011

Personnel

The record features vocals of Horace Andy, as well as guest vocalists: Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio, Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz, Hope Sandoval of Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions and Mazzy Star, Guy Garvey of Elbow and Martina Topley-Bird,[3] as well as guitar playing by Adrian Utley of Portishead (on "Saturday Come Slow"), keys from Portishead collaborator John Baggott (most notably on "Atlas Air"), keys and synth bass from Damon Albarn ("Splitting the Atom" and "Flat of the Blade" respectively), guitar (various tracks) and bass ("Girl I Love You") by Neil Davidge and bass by Billy Fuller of Beak on various tracks.

The record features drumming from the late Jerry Fuchs and regular session and touring drummer Damon Reece. Dan Brown and Stew Jackson (Robot Club) co-wrote "Paradise Circus", played guitar on and co-wrote "Saturday Come Slow", and part-programmed and engineered those tracks. Tim Goldsworthy contributed additional production (specific tracks unstated). Most tracks were mixed with Mark "Spike" Stent and then all were mastered with Tim Young at Metropolis Studios, as with previous records. Unlike previous records, there are no personal acknowledgements on the inlay. Neil Davidge co-produced all tracks with Robert Del Naja only[4] (except tracks 3, 7 and 9 where Grant Marshall was also involved), though Marshall has a co-write credit on every track. The album is dedicated to the memory of Blue Lines co-producer, Jonny Dollar.

Background

The album release was preceded on 4 October 2009 by an EP, Splitting the Atom. During its gestation, the album was often referred to in the media as "LP5" (a reference to this being their fifth studio album – excluding Danny the Dog) or "Weather Underground" (Robert Del Naja's early working title and underdog metaphor for the record).[5]

The artwork, as with every Massive Attack album since Protection, is a collaboration between Tom Hingston and Del Naja, this time based on Del Naja's paintings. Transport for London, in line with their policy to not encourage graffiti, insisted the cover image featured on advertising posters displayed on the Tube be altered so as to not resemble "street art", obliging the artists to remove drips and fuzz from the original image.[6]

Many other guest vocalists recorded sessions during the duo's post-100th Window era but are not featured on the album, including: Stephanie Dosen, Yolanda Quartey of Phantom Limb – effectively Robot Club's band) and Jhelisa (Anderson, who had previously recorded in 2002 in the studio for material that was not included on 100th Window); and, mostly during the pre-Collected time – Mike Patton, Aku and Akwetey Orraca-Tetteh and Devang Shah of Dragons of Zynth, Elizabeth Fraser, Terry Callier, Fredo Viola, Debbie Clare, Beth Orton and Dot Allison. Mos Def and Leslie Feist were named as artists scheduled for recording sessions back in 2004.[7] Backing tracks from Grant Marshall's side of Massive Attack's writing (mainly facilitated by and done with Robot Club) are known to have been sent to Alice Russell, and prepared for Sharon Jones,[8] Patti Smith and David Bowie during the era but collaboration did not come to fruition, nor did talks with Tom Waits or Tricky, in terms of featuring as guest vocalists on the record. Post-punks Mark Stewart and Keith Levene were pictured inside Del Naja's 100 Suns studio in 2009, but played no part on the album.

"I think it's got definitely a more organic feel",[9] Del Naja said of Heligoland. "100th Window was very much about this amalgamation of everything joining, and eventually the process was so extreme that you couldn't tell if there was a string part if it was electronic or natural. [There were] lots of organic parts that ended up sounding very electronic. It became a whole world of different processes, and we wanted to do something a bit different because we've had that experience so we wanted to do something else."

The track "Girl I Love You", one of multiple tracks featuring Horace Andy, is a drastically reworked version of a song originally written by Andy during his solo career.

Promotion

Eight low-budget films were officially released online in promotion of Heligoland:

  • "Splitting the Atom" (Promo 1) [the bull fight video], directed by Baillie Walsh (2009).
  • "Paradise Circus", directed by Toby Dye (2009) features clips from an old pornographic film, interspersed with an interview with the film's now-aged female star Georgina Spelvin, who describes each stage of a film-oriented sex act and emphasises the added erotic excitement of the camera.[10]
  • "Splitting the Atom" (Promo 2), directed by Edouard Salier (2009). Video on YouTube
  • "Flat of the Blade", directed by Ewan Spencer (2009)
  • "Saturday Come Slow", directed by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin (2010), features a former Guantanamo Bay detainee at a laboratory in Cambridge, where he and a professor work in tandem to discuss the use of loud sounds as a means of torture.
  • "Psyche", directed by John Downer (2010)
  • "Atlas Air", directed by Eduard Salier, was downloadable with the digital Version of the Atlas Air EP. The video is in fact a prequel to Salier's version of "Splitting The Atom"
  • "Pray For Rain", directed by Jake Scott (2011)

Furthermore, a "United Snakes" video by UnitedVisualArtists, along with a previous alternate promo for "Psyche" [the ghosts' video] directed by Dougal Wilson were also released.

"Paradise Circus" was licensed to be the theme tune for the BBC TV drama series Luther.[11] "Paradise Circus" can also be heard in Gossip Girl,[12] "Misfits" (S2, Ep4), Revenge (S2, Ep6) and "9 Crimes", the fourth episode of the third season of True Blood,[13] as well as in the 2011 advert "Dominoes" for Citroën C5. A remixed version of "Paradise Circus" by Gui Boratto, can also be heard on the Lincoln MKX commercials featuring Mad Men's John Slattery.

Release
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.0/10[14]
Metacritic72/100[15]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[16]
Entertainment WeeklyB−[17]
The Guardian[18]
The Irish Times[19]
Los Angeles Times[20]
NME6/10[21]
Pitchfork5.0/10[22]
Rolling Stone[23]
Spin7/10[24]
Uncut[25]

The deluxe edition of Heligoland available digitally features bonus tracks (remixes and "False Flags" B-side, "United Snakes"). There is also a deluxe vinyl edition release.[26] Heligoland Remixed (amounting to the same as the Deluxe Edition's bonus tracks, except for "United Snakes" being replaced by a second Gui Boratto dub remix) has been uploaded for listening on the duo's Facebook page. The standard edition is available in a number of different coloured covers.

Burial remix album

In late 2009, Marshall suggested in an interview with Clash that there would be an equivalent remix album of Heligoland by Burial, though various comments made afterwards cast major doubt on the prospect ever being more than an idle whim in reality.[27]

In May 2010, Del Naja told Q magazine: "It's happening, but we can't talk about it. [Burial]'s very private and paranoid about it."[28]

"Four Walls"/"Paradise Circus", a single containing Burial's "Paradise Circus" remix, along with a remix of a previously unreleased track, "Four Walls" was released in 2011.

Atlas Air EP

Massive Attack had stated in interviews their intention to release a post-Heligoland EP in May or June 2010. The record was expected to feature unreleased leftover tracks, such as "Invade Me" and "Red Light", both featuring Martina Topley-Bird.[29]

Subsequently, Massive Attack announced plans for the limited vinyl release of 1,000 units and digital release of an Atlas Air EP on 1 November 2010, in aid of Warchild. The EP would feature an edit of the titular song; a Tim Goldsworthy remix; a Guy Garvey-penned and previously unfinished Heligoland leftover track, "Redlight", featuring Guy Garvey on vocals; and its respective remix by Warp artist, Clark.[30]

These plans were later changed so that the release date became 22 November 2010. Also, the original version of "Redlight" was later removed from the track listing and replaced on the EP by the Jneiro Jarel remix of Atlas Air, meaning that the EP would represent no new Massive Attack production. Plus, the remix of "Redlight" would end up featuring female vocals and not those of its songs writer, Guy Garvey, as first suggested.[31]

Track listing
Standard edition
No.TitleWriter(s)VocalsLength
1."Pray for Rain"
Adebimpe6:44
2."Babel"
Topley-Bird5:20
3."Splitting the Atom"
5:17
4."Girl I Love You"
  • Del Naja
  • Marshall
  • Davidge
  • Andy
Andy5:27
5."Psyche"
  • Del Naja
  • Marshall
  • Davidge
  • Topley-Bird
Topley-Bird3:25
6."Flat of the Blade"
Garvey5:30
7."Paradise Circus"
Sandoval4:58
8."Rush Minute"
  • Del Naja
  • Marshall
  • Davidge
Del Naja4:51
9."Saturday Come Slow"
  • Del Naja
  • Marshall
  • Albarn
  • Jackson
  • Brown
Albarn3:44
10."Atlas Air"
  • Del Naja
  • Marshall
  • Davidge
  • John Baggott
Del Naja7:49
Total length:53:05
Japanese edition bonus track
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
11."Fatalism" (Ryuichi Sakamoto & Yukihiro Takahashi remix)
4:54
Total length:57:59
Amazon digital extended edition bonus tracks[32]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
11."Paradise Circus" (Gui Boratto remix)
  • Del Naja
  • Marshall
  • Sandoval
  • Jackson
  • Brown
8:07
12."Fatalism" (Ryuichi Sakamoto & Yukihiro Takahashi remix)
  • Del Naja
  • Marshall
  • Davidge
  • Garvey
4:54
13."Girl I Love You" (She Is Danger remix)
  • Del Naja
  • Marshall
  • Davidge
  • Andy
5:00
14."Paradise Circus" (Breakage's Tight Rope remix)
  • Del Naja
  • Marshall
  • Sandoval
  • Jackson
  • Brown
4:44
Total length:75:83
iTunes Store deluxe edition bonus tracks[33]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
15."United Snakes"
  • Del Naja
  • Davidge
9:44
16."Pray for Rain" (Tim Goldsworthy remix)
  • Del Naja
  • Marshall
  • Davidge
  • Adebimpe
7:24
Total length:92:97

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Heligoland.[34]

Massive Attack

Additional musicians

Technical
  • Robert Del Naja – production
  • Neil Davidge – production (all tracks); mixing (tracks 2, 7)
  • Grant Marshall – production (tracks 3, 7, 9)
  • Tim Goldsworthy – additional production
  • Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing (tracks 1, 3–6, 8–10)
  • Matty Green – mixing assistance (tracks 1, 3–6, 8–10)
  • Euan Dickinson – mixing assistance (tracks 2, 7); engineering (all tracks)
  • Eric Broucek – engineering
  • Lee Shephard – engineering
  • Leo Sidran – engineering
  • Jason Cox – engineering
  • Graham Archer – engineering
  • Robot Club – engineering
  • Tim Young – mastering at Metropolis Mastering, London

Artwork

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
France (SNEP)[75] Gold 50,000*
Italy (FIMI)[76] Gold 30,000*
Poland (ZPAV)[77] Gold 10,000*
United Kingdom (BPI)[2] Gold 216,607[78]

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

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gollark: A. It's `monitor_touch`B. That `if `doesn't even make sense why are you doing that3. `key` isn't a string.-4: You forgot the `end`
gollark: 2. there is more logic than that.
gollark: 1. that is not remotely valid.
gollark: Not really, solar...

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