If You Wait

If You Wait is the debut studio album by English indie pop band London Grammar. It was released on 6 September 2013 by Metal & Dust Recordings and Ministry of Sound. Seven singles were released from the album: "Metal & Dust", "Wasting My Young Years", "Strong", "Nightcall", "Hey Now", "Sights" and "If You Wait". The album debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart with first-week sales of 33,130 copies.

If You Wait
Studio album by
London Grammar
Released6 September 2013 (2013-09-06)
Recorded2012–2013
Studio
Genre
Length43:22
Label
Producer
London Grammar chronology
If You Wait
(2013)		 Truth Is a Beautiful Thing
(2017)
Singles from If You Wait
  1. "Metal & Dust"
    Released: 25 February 2013
  2. "Wasting My Young Years"
    Released: 16 June 2013
  3. "Strong"
    Released: 1 September 2013
  4. "Nightcall"
    Released: 8 December 2013
  5. "Hey Now"
    Released: 16 March 2014
  6. "Sights"
    Released: 1 June 2014[4]
  7. "If You Wait"
    Released: 12 October 2014[5]

Background

After signing with Ministry of Sound and Big Life Management, the band began the first sessions of the album in early 2012 with Cam Blackwood. Later that year he was replaced by Tim Bran and Roy Kerr. Hannah Reid commented on the collaboration, saying, "Tim is amazing at recording, of finding the best way of recording a guitar or my vocal. Roy had the strongest relationship with Dot and they worked on production together."[6]

The album's lyrics are mainly based upon vocalist Hannah Reid's personal life, in particular her troubled teenage years,[7] prompting The Guardian to suggest that this was "the first quarter-life-crisis album."[7]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?6.9/10[8]
Metacritic75/100[9]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[10]
Consequence of Sound[11]
The Guardian[12]
The Independent[13]
Mixmag4/5[14]
NME7/10[15]
The Observer[16]
Pitchfork7.1/10[17]
PopMatters9/10[18]
Q[19]

If You Wait received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 75, based on 19 reviews.[9]

Andy Gill of The Independent summarised the album's production and instrumentation as "all beautifully sketched to evoke the crepuscular intimacies of the songs."[13]

A large quantity of praise went to the vocal ability of Reid, whose husky contralto vocals have been described as "defining and soulful" by Clash magazine[20] and "emotive" and "folky" by Drowned in Sound.[3] Her voice has been compared to artists like Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine,[21] Annie Lennox,[13][22] and Julee Cruise.[13] Benji Taylor of Pretty Much Amazing wrote a favourable review of the album, calling it "an enthralling, stunning, deeply emotive album that perfectly marries understated electronica to sublime vocals and melodies." Vocalist Hannah Reid's voice was particularly praised: "underscored by an enduring brittle beauty and an underlying otherworldliness, as if she honed her craft singing amidst the gardens of Lothlorien, or some far-flung corner of Westeros."[1]

Commercial performance

If You Wait entered the UK Albums Chart at number two, selling 33,130 copies in its first week.[23] As of June 2017, it had sold 642,301 copies in the United Kingdom.[24] In the United States, the album debuted at number 91 on the Billboard 200 with 4,000 copies sold.[25]

Track listing

All tracks produced by Tim Bran, Roy Kerr and London Grammar, except where noted.

No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Hey Now"Hannah Reid
  • Reid
  • Daniel Rothman
  • Dot Major
3:27
2."Stay Awake"Reid
  • Reid
  • Rothman
  • Major
3:05
3."Shyer"Reid
3:07
4."Wasting My Young Years"ReidReid3:24
5."Sights"Reid
  • Reid
  • Rothman
  • Major
4:13
6."Strong"Reid
  • Reid
  • Rothman
  • Major
4:35
7."Nightcall"
  • Belorgey
  • Homem-Christo
4:30
8."Metal & Dust"Reid
  • Reid
  • Rothman
  • Major
3:28
9."Interlude" (live)ReidReid4:04
10."Flickers"
  • Reid
  • Rothman
  • Reid
  • Rothman
  • Major
4:45
11."If You Wait"ReidReid4:44
Total length:43:22
US edition bonus tracks[26][27]
No.TitleLyricsMusicProducer(s)Length
12."High Life"Reid
  • Reid
  • Rothman
  • Major
 4:03
13."Maybe"Reid
  • Reid
  • Rothman
  • Major
 4:23
14."Strong" (US radio edit)Reid
  • Reid
  • Rothman
  • Major
4:10
Total length:55:58
Japanese edition bonus tracks[28]
No.TitleLyricsMusicProducer(s)Length
12."Help"Reid
  • Reid
  • Rothman
  • Major
 3:53
13."Darling Are You Gonna Leave Me"Reid
  • Reid
  • Rothman
  • Major
  • Bran
  • Kerr
3:02
14."High Life"Reid
  • Reid
  • Rothman
  • Major
 4:03
15."Maybe"Reid
  • Reid
  • Rothman
  • Major
 4:23
16."When We Were Young"Reid
  • Reid
  • Rothman
  • Major
 3:06
17."Feelings"   3:46
18."Everywhere You Go"   3:42
Total length:69:17
Deluxe edition and French collector's edition bonus disc[29][30]
No.TitleLyricsMusicProducer(s)Length
1."Help"Reid
  • Reid
  • Rothman
  • Major
 3:53
2."Darling Are You Gonna Leave Me"Reid
  • Reid
  • Rothman
  • Major
  • Bran
  • Kerr
3:02
3."Help Me Lose My Mind" (Disclosure featuring London Grammar)Reid
Disclosure4:06
4."High Life"Reid
  • Reid
  • Rothman
  • Major
 4:03
5."Maybe"Reid
  • Reid
  • Rothman
  • Major
 4:23
6."When We Were Young"Reid
  • Reid
  • Rothman
  • Major
 3:06
Total length:22:33

Notes

  • ^a signifies a co-producer

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of If You Wait.[31]

Musicians
  • Tim Bran – additional programming (all tracks); additional keyboards (tracks 4, 7)
  • Roy Kerr – additional programming
  • Dot Major – additional programming (tracks 4, 7)
  • Wil Malone – string arrangements, string conducting (tracks 4, 5, 8, 11)
  • Tony Stanton – strings preparation (tracks 4, 5, 8, 11)
  • City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra – strings (tracks 4, 5, 8, 11)

Technical
  • Tim Bran – production
  • Roy Kerr – production
  • London Grammar – production
  • Manon Grandjean – engineering
  • Ben Siegal – engineering (tracks 3, 8, 10, 11); vocal recording, piano recording (track 11)
  • Jan Holzner – string recording (tracks 4, 5, 8, 11)
  • James Fitzpatrick – orchestra contractor (tracks 4, 5, 8, 11)
  • Kevin "KD" Davis – mixing
  • Tom Coyne – mastering

Artwork
  • Mat Maitland – art direction
  • Markus Karlsson – art direction
  • Lee Kirby – photography

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[67] Platinum 70,000^
Belgium (BEA)[68] Platinum 30,000*
Denmark (IFPI Denmark)[69] Gold 10,000
Germany (BVMI)[70] Gold 100,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[71] 2× Platinum 642,301[24]

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

Release history
Region Date Format Edition Label Ref.
Australia 6 September 2013
  • Standard
  • deluxe
 Dew Process [72][73][74][75]
LP Standard [76]
France 9 September 2013 CD Because [77]
United Kingdom
  • CD
  • digital download
  • Standard
  • deluxe
[78][79][80][81]
LP Standard [82]
United States 10 September 2013 Digital download Columbia [83]
Germany 11 October 2013 Deluxe
[84]
15 November 2013 CD
  • Standard
  • deluxe
 Island [85][86]
United States 25 March 2014 US standard Columbia [87]
Digital download US deluxe [27]
1 April 2014 LP US standard [88]
France 28 April 2014 LP + CD
  • Standard (LP)
  • deluxe (CD)
 Because [89]
Japan 18 June 2014
  • CD
  • digital download
 Japan standard Universal [28][90]
France 24 November 2014 CD Collector's Because [30]

Notes
  1. Vocals on tracks 2–10
  2. Strings on tracks 4, 5, 8 and 11
gollark: Something something semipermeable membrane something something concentration gradient.
gollark: Fascinating.
gollark: You are LITERALLY metaphorically 4*10^36 muon neutrinos.
gollark: Oh, it must be banned from posting images in here.
gollark: Hmm. That *is* the right command. Weird.

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