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Amnesty (I)

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Amnesty (I)
Studio album by
Crystal Castles
ReleasedAugust 19, 2016
Recorded2015–2016
StudioKonk (London)[1]
GenreElectropop[2]
Length33:14
Label
Producer
Crystal Castles chronology
III
(2012) 		Amnesty (I)
(2016)
Singles from Amnesty (I)
  1. "Frail"
    Released: April 15, 2015
  2. "Their Kindness Is Charade (as Deicide)"
    Released: July 2, 2015
  3. "Concrete"
    Released: July 6, 2016
  4. "Char"
    Released: July 11, 2016
  5. "Fleece"
    Released: August 16, 2016
  6. "Sadist"
    Released: August 18, 2016

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic67/100[3]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Clash7/10[5]
Consequence of SoundB−[6]
Drowned in Sound6/10[7]
The Guardian[2]
Pitchfork6.8/10[8]
PopMatters[9]

Amnesty (I) (also titled Amnesty I[10] and sometimes referred to as Amnesty) is the fourth and final studio album by Canadian electronic music duo Crystal Castles, released on August 19, 2016, by Fiction Records and Casablanca Records.[11] It is their first album since the departure of previous frontwoman Alice Glass in 2014, and the first to feature new vocalist Edith Frances. It is also their first album not titled after their band name.

Release and promotion

[edit]

On April 15, 2015, Ethan Kath shared a new track titled "Frail" on SoundCloud, writing 'this is Edith on vocals'. The track was released commercially to digital retailers a month later on May 11.[12] Kath shared another track titled "Deicide" on July 2 on SoundCloud, later seeing a commercial digital release on July 10.[13] "Deicide" was later revealed to be a demo for the outro track on Amnesty (I), "Their Kindness Is Charade". In late November 2015, Edith Frances played her first show as the other half of Crystal Castles in South Africa.[14]

On February 29, 2016, the band revealed that they aimed to release the album sometime spring of that year, and confirmed that the 2015 SoundCloud demos "Frail" and "Deicide" would be included on the record.[15] For unknown reasons, the record arrived late summer instead of spring 2016.

In the last week of June 2016, the track "Concrete" was leaked[16] on Korean website MNet. With the Concrete leak, fans discovered information about the album via Shazam, such as the title, track list, and cover art. Although the Shazam track list was not in order and the release date was unknown, Amazon Germany accidentally leaked the ordered track list and release date before the album was officially announced on July 11, 2016. The track Concrete was later released as a single on July 6 with an accompanying video on the same day on YouTube.[17][18] On June 29, the band previewed a new track "Femen" with a teaser of the music video showing birds caught and struggling in mist nets via Vimeo.[19] On July 11, the band officially announced the new record, Amnesty (I) along with its cover art and track list while also premiering a new single, "Char", as Annie Mac's Hottest Record on BBC Radio 1.[20] The single and pre-order for the album were made available a day later on July 12.[21][22] The fourth pre-order single "Fleece" was made available on August 16 at the band's iTunes page.[23] A CD rip of the album, including the bonus track "Kept", leaked online the same day. The band released "Sadist" on August 18, 2016, via their YouTube channel, followed by the official release of the album on August 19, 2016.[24]

With Amnesty, the band took a similar approach to their 2008 debut; they revealed a majority of the tracks on both albums before each was released.

Track listing

[edit]
Amnesty (I) – digital edition track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Femen"
Kath2:32
2."Fleece"
  • Kath
  • Edith Frances
Kath2:35
3."Char"KathKath3:08
4."Enth"
  • Kath
  • Frances
Kath3:29
5."Sadist"KathKath2:30
6."Teach Her How to Hunt"KathKath1:55
7."Chloroform"KathKath3:08
8."Frail"KathKath2:49
9."Concrete"
  • Kath
  • Frances
Kath3:16
10."Ornament"Kath
  • Kath
  • Samuel Jacob
4:07
11."Their Kindness Is Charade"Kath
  • Kath
  • Jake Lee
3:45
Total length:33:18
Amnesty (I) – physical edition track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
11."Kept"
Kath4:03
12."Their Kindness Is Charade"Kath
  • Kath
  • Lee
3:45
Total length:37:21

Sample credits

Personnel

[edit]
  • Ethan Kath – production, mixing
  • Lexxx – mixing (tracks 1–5, 7–10, 12)
  • Patrick Mundy – mixing (track 8)
  • Alex Zelenka – engineering (tracks 8, 9)
  • Niko Stoessi – mixing (track 9)
  • Etnik – mixing (tracks 9–12)
  • Samuel Jacob – production (track 10); vocal engineering
  • Kevin Durante – mixing (track 11)
  • Pilo – mixing (track 11)
  • Jake Lee – production (track 12)
  • Mike Marsh – mastering
  • Lisa Wiltse – cover photograph
  • Ari D – band photograph

Charts

[edit]
Chart performance for Amnesty (I)
Chart (2016) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[25] 85
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[26] 113
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[27] 95
UK Albums (OCC)[28] 86
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard)[29] 2

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Exposito, Suzy (August 18, 2016). "Meet Crystal Castle' New Singer Edith Frances". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 19, 2016.
  2. ^ a b Carnwath, Ally (August 21, 2016). "Crystal Castles: Amnesty (I) review – brilliantly disjointed electropop". The Guardian. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  3. ^ "Amnesty (I) by Crystal Castles". Metacritic. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  4. ^ Phares, Heather. "Crystal Castles – Amnesty". AllMusic. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  5. ^ Gray, Josh (August 18, 2016). "Crystal Castles – Amnesty (I)". Clash. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  6. ^ Madden, Michael (August 19, 2016). "Crystal Castles – Amnesty (I)". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  7. ^ Hanratty, Dave (August 18, 2016). "Crystal Castles – Amnesty (I)". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on September 19, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  8. ^ Rytlewski, Evan (August 30, 2016). "Crystal Castles – Amnesty (I)". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  9. ^ Duricy, Brian (August 30, 2016). "Crystal Castles – Amnesty (I)". PopMatters. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  10. ^ "Amnesty I, by Crystal Castles". Bandcamp. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
  11. ^ "Crystal Castles – 'Amnesty (I)' (LP)". Fiction Records. July 12, 2016. Archived from the original on August 21, 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  12. ^ "Frail – Single by Crystal Castles". iTunes (US). May 11, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  13. ^ "Deicide – Single by Crystal Castles". iTunes (US). July 10, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  14. ^ Murphy, Sarah (November 27, 2015). "Crystal Castles Reveal New Singer Edith Frances". Stereogum. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  15. ^ Gordon, Jeremy (February 29, 2016). "Crystal Castles to Release New Album This Spring, Announce New Shows". Pitchfork. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
  16. ^ Earls, John (July 6, 2016). "Watch as Crystal Castles share video for new single 'Concrete'". NME. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  17. ^ Williams, Tom (July 6, 2016). "Crystal Castles Drop New Song 'Concrete' As New Album Details Leak". Music Feeds. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  18. ^ "Concrete – Single by Crystal Castles". iTunes (US). July 6, 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  19. ^ Murphy, Sarah (June 30, 2016). "Crystal Castles Hint at New Album with Cryptic Trailer". Exclaim!. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  20. ^ "Crystal Castles – Char". BBC. July 12, 2016. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
  21. ^ Greg (July 11, 2016). "Crystal Castles release "Char" & announce 'Amnesty (I)' album pre-order". Last Gang Records. Archived from the original on July 28, 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  22. ^ "Char – Single by Crystal Castles". iTunes (US). July 12, 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  23. ^ "Fleece – Single by Crystal Castles". iTunes (US). August 16, 2016. Retrieved August 19, 2016.
  24. ^ "Amnesty (I) by Crystal Castles". iTunes (US). August 19, 2016. Retrieved August 19, 2016.
  25. ^ "Ultratop.be – Crystal Castles – Amnesty (I)" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
  26. ^ "Ultratop.be – Crystal Castles – Amnesty (I)" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
  27. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Crystal Castles – Amnesty (I)". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  28. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
  29. ^ "Crystal Castles Chart History (Top Dance/Electronic Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
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