The Bravery (album)

The Bravery is the self-titled debut album by New York indie rock band The Bravery, released in March 2005. It peaked at number 18 on the Billboard 200[1] and number 5 in the UK.[2]

The Bravery
Studio album by The Bravery
Released	March 14, 2005 (2005-03-14)
Recorded	2004
Studio	Bushwick Studio (Brooklyn) and various bedrooms
Genre	Indie rock post-punk revival dance-punk
Length	37:51
Label	Polydor (UK), Island (US)
Producer	Sam Endicott
The Bravery chronology
The Bravery (2005) The Sun and the Moon (2007)
Singles from The Bravery
"An Honest Mistake" Released: 28 February 2005 "Fearless" Released: 23 May 2005 "Unconditional" Released: 29 August 2005

The first single from the album, "An Honest Mistake", was released on February 28, 2005. The UK and Japanese releases of the album contain the bonus track "Hot Pursuit". The version on the Japanese edition is a different mix, featuring Gillian Conway (keyboardist John Conway's sister) on vocals, along with Sam Endicott.

The track "Swollen Summer" is featured in the PlayStation 2 game, Gran Turismo 4. The Bravery opened up their set with this song at the July 27, 2008 Projekt Revolution concert held in the Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, Virginia. The song "Unconditional" is featured in the PlayStation 2 game, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. The song "An Honest Mistake" is featured in the video games True Crime: New York City and MVP Baseball 2005.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	66/100[3]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Lost At Sea	(8/10)[5]
NME	(7/10)[6]
Pitchfork	(5.3/10)[7]
PopMatters	(7/10)[8]
Robert Christgau	[9]
Rolling Stone	[10]
Uncut	[11]

The Bravery garnered positive reviews from music critics who praised their interpretation of the new wave revival movement. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 66, based on 24 reviews.[3]

Steve Sutherland of Uncut gave high praise to the new wave revivalist production and the band's musicianship resembling that of their inspirations, in terms of vocals and instrumentals, concluding that, "This album is already one of the debuts of the year. All hail The Bravery and their new bold dream."[11] MacKenzie Wilson of AllMusic praised the band for taking their influences and making them their own with catchability and upbeat optimism, saying that, "The Bravery isn't sonically mind-blowing, but the new millennium new wave revival remains intriguing. This New York five-piece makes an interesting effort without it coming off contrived and dishonest."[4]

While finding Endicott's vocal delivery mediocre at best, Nicholas Taylor of PopMatters praised the danceable production and devil-may-care lyrics for giving the band a nice platform to start from, concluding with, "This debut is certainly promising, and I look forward to seeing whether the Bravery can begin to carve out a more concrete and distinctive image and place for themselves."[8] Robert Christgau graded the album as a "dud",[9] indicating "a bad record whose details rarely merit further thought."[12] Pitchfork writer Adam Moerder criticized the band's unremarkable take on '80s new wave with lacklustre instrumentals and Endicott's vocals sounding too close to Robert Smith and Simon Le Bon. He gave praise to the tracks "An Honest Mistake" and "Tyrant" for their intricacies in terms of synth and vocal choices, concluding that "Despite these highlights, though, this is still rock made on an assembly line— predictable, economically efficient, and about as dynamic as a Model T."[7]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Sam Endicott, except where noted.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"An Honest Mistake"	3:39
2.	"No Brakes"	3:04
3.	"Fearless"	3:06
4.	"Tyrant" (Endicott, John Conway)	4:43
5.	"Give In"	2:48
6.	"Swollen Summer"	3:18
7.	"Public Service Announcement"	3:35
8.	"Out of Line"	3:04
9.	"Unconditional"	3:21
10.	"The Ring Song"	3:25
11.	"Rites of Spring"	3:21

Bonus tracks

12. "Hot Pursuit" (Endicott, Conway) – 3:07 (UK/Japanese bonus track)
13. "Hey Sunshiney Day" (Endicott, Conway) – 2:26 (Japanese bonus track)
14. "Unconditional" (video) (Japanese bonus track)
15. "An Honest Mistake" (video) (Japanese bonus track)

Personnel

Adapted from the album's liner notes.[13]

The Bravery

• Sam Endicott – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
• Michael Zakarin – lead guitar, backing vocals
• John Conway – keyboards, backing vocals
• Mike Hindert – bass, backing vocals
• Anthony Burulcich – drums, backing vocals

Additional musicians

• Steven Lourie – drums on tracks 1-4 and 6-8
• Joshua Kessler – tambourine on track 10

Production

• Nic Hard – mixing
• Brian Gardner – mastering

Artwork

• Louis Marino – art direction

References

1. "Billboard charts". Billboard charts. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
2. "British charts". zobbel.de. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
3. "Reviews for The Bravery". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
4. Wilson, MacKenzie. "The Bravery - The Bravery". AllMusic. Retrieved November 24, 2011.
5. Peters, Sarah (April 12, 2005). "The Bravery - The Bravery (Island Records)". Lost At Sea. Retrieved September 19, 2016.
6. Moody, Paul (September 12, 2005). "The Bravery : The Bravery". NME. IPC Media. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
7. Moerder, Adam (April 19, 2005). "The Bravery: The Bravery". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 28, 2016.
8. Taylor, Nicholas (March 27, 2005). "The Bravery: self-titled". PopMatters. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
9. "CG: Bravery". robertchristgau.com. Robert Christgau. Retrieved November 24, 2011.
10. Sheffield, Rob (April 7, 2005). "The Bravery: The Bravery". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. Archived from the original on December 11, 2007. Retrieved November 24, 2011.
11. Sutherland, Steve (March 8, 2005). "The Bravery - The Bravery". Uncut. Time Inc. UK. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
12. Christgau, Robert (2000). "Key to Icons". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
13. The Bravery (booklet). The Bravery. Island. 2005. B000416302.CS1 maint: others (link)