| Harmlessness | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 25, 2015 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 61:03 | |||
| Label | Epitaph | |||
| Producer | Chris Teti | |||
| The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die chronology | ||||
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Harmlessness is the second studio album by American indie rock band The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die. It was announced on August 4, 2015, and was released on September 25. The title of the album is a play on the name of the band's first EP, Formlessness. [3]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 84/100 [4] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AbsolutePunk |  [5] |
| Alternative Press |    |
| Blurt | [6] |
| Pitchfork | 7.9/10 [7] |
| Punknews.org | [8] |
| Under the Radar | 7.5/10 [9] |
Harmlessness charted at number 11 on the Heatseekers Albums chart, [10] and at number 46 on the Independent Albums chart. [11] Upon release, the album received critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from specialized critics, the album received an average score of 84, based on 6 reviews. Stereogum placed the album at number 13 on their top 50 albums of 2015 list. [12] James of Stereogum wrote: "It's not the kind of music that will change the world, but it might just change your life." [12] Aaron Mook of AbsolutePunk wrote: "Harmlessness is ambitious and intimidating in scope; it is not an easy listen, but with the right amount of time and dedication, it is easily one of the most rewarding listens of 2015." "January 10th, 2014" appeared on a best-of emo songs list by Vulture . [13]
In 2017, Harmlessness placed seventh on Spin 's list of the emo revival's 30 best albums, with writer Ian Cohen dubbing it "one of the most stunningly accomplished indie rock records of the past decade." [14] Several months later, Cohen called it "an astonishing redirection" for indie rock, seeing it anticipate the genre's impending fusion of the late 90's Pacific Northwest scene's "experimental and expanse" with mid-00s Canadian indie's "grandeur" that would give way to the emo revival. [15] In 2021, Exclaim! 's Adam Feibel wrote that the album had "frequently been held up as [the band's] crowning achievement". [16]
| Publication | Accolade | Year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stereogum | The 50 Best Albums of 2015 | 2015 | #13 [17] |
| Brooklyn Magazine | The 20 Best Rock Albums of 2015 | 2015 | #1 [18] |
| BrooklynVegan | Our 50 Favorite Albums of 2015 | 2015 | -- [19] |
| Absolutepunk.net | Staff's Top 30 Albums of 2015 | 2015 | #5 [20] |
All music is composed by The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "You Can't Live There Forever" | 4:01 |
| 2. | "blank #11" | 1:09 |
| 3. | "January 10th, 2014" | 5:39 |
| 4. | "The Word Lisa" | 2:03 |
| 5. | "Rage Against the Dying of the Light" | 3:29 |
| 6. | "Ra Patera Dance" | 4:30 |
| 7. | "Mental Health" | 4:07 |
| 8. | "Wendover" | 2:57 |
| 9. | "We Need More Skulls" | 4:20 |
| 10. | "Haircuts for Everybody" | 2:44 |
| 11. | "Willie (For Howard)" | 3:10 |
| 12. | "I Can Be Afraid of Anything" | 7:10 |
| 13. | "Mount Hum" (ends at 8:20; hidden track "Make Mistakes" begins at 11:28) | 15:44 |
| Total length: | 61:03 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 14. | "Make Mistakes" (appears on the CD edition as a hidden track to "Mount Hum", beginning at 11:28) | 4:16 |
The lineup for this album is: [22]
Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and post-hardcore from the mid-1980s Washington, D.C. hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands Rites of Spring and Embrace, among others, pioneered the genre. In the early and mid 1990s, emo was adopted and reinvented by alternative rock, indie rock, punk rock, and pop-punk bands, including Sunny Day Real Estate, Jawbreaker, Cap'n Jazz, and Jimmy Eat World. By the mid-1990s, Braid, the Promise Ring, and the Get Up Kids emerged from Midwest emo, and several independent record labels began to specialize in the genre. Meanwhile, screamo, a more aggressive style of emo using screamed vocals, also emerged, pioneered by the San Diego bands Heroin and Antioch Arrow. Screamo achieved mainstream success in the 2000s with bands like Hawthorne Heights, Silverstein, Story of the Year, Thursday, the Used, and Underoath.
The Dream Is Over is the second album by Canadian punk rock band PUP, released on May 27, 2016, through Royal Mountain Records in Canada and SideOneDummy Records worldwide. The album was recorded with the financial support of Canada's Private Radio Broadcasters. The album title comes from the doctor of lead singer Stefan Babcock, after the doctor found out about a problem with Babcock's vocal cords.
Empire! Empire! was an American emo band from Michigan. It was formed in 2006 originally as a solo project of band member Keith Latinen. The band's music is most often described as emotional indie rock reminiscent of '90s emo bands such as Mineral and American Football. The band's first release was in 2007 with an EP titled When The Sea Became A Giant. The band released a full-length album, What It Takes To Move Forward, in 2009. The band is signed to Count Your Lucky Stars Records and has released albums on a number of other labels, such as strictly no capital letters (UK), Topshelf Records, Stiff Slack (Japan), and Hobbledehoy Record Co (Australia). The band released their second album You Will Eventually Be Forgotten on August 19, 2014. On February 16, 2016, the band announced their final tour before their breakup on their official Facebook page.
The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die is an American indie rock band formed in Willimantic, Connecticut, in 2009. Following the release of several EPs and splits featuring original lead singer Thomas Diaz, they released their debut LP Whenever, If Ever in 2013 to generally positive reviews. Undergoing a series of roster changes, they proceeded to release a 2014 collaboration with spoken word artist Christopher Zizzamia titled Between Bodies, as well as several full-length records, including Harmlessness in 2015, Always Foreign in 2017, and 2021's Illusory Walls.
The emo revival was an underground emo movement which began in the late 2000s and had declined by mid–to late 2010s. The movement began towards the end of the 2000s third wave of emo, with bands like Tigers Jaw, Algernon Cadwallader and Snowing who distanced themselves from the era's pop sensibilities and instead revived the sound of 1990s second wave emo. This coincided with the rise of bands, like Touché Amoré, La Dispute and Defeater, who too embraced the influence of 1990s emo, as well as screamo and post-hardcore.
Pity Sex were an American alternative rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan. The band formed in 2011, and released two studio albums – Feast of Love (2013) and White Hot Moon (2016) – prior to their split. The band combined elements of indie rock, shoegaze, dream pop and noise rock in their music, and were described by Pitchfork as "post-coital pop-punk". The band announced its reunion in 2022, as part of the Sound & Fury festival line-up.
Whenever, If Ever is the debut studio album by American indie rock band The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die, released on June 18, 2013, on Topshelf Records.
Citizen is an American rock band from Southeast Michigan and Northwest Ohio that formed in 2009. The band currently consists of Mat Kerekes (vocals), brothers Nick and Eric Hamm (bass), Mason Mercer, and Ben Russin (drums). They are currently signed to Run for Cover Records, and have released four studio albums to date: Youth (2013), Everybody Is Going to Heaven (2015), As You Please (2017) and Life in Your Glass World (2021). A fifth, Calling the Dogs, was released in October 2023. Considered a part of emo's fourth wave, Pitchfork have described Citizen as "a band their fans can grow up with rather than out of."
Turnover is an American rock band from Virginia Beach, Virginia. Formed in 2009, the band is signed with the Run for Cover Records label. Turnover has released five albums, two EPs and two singles
Foxing is an American indie rock band from St. Louis, Missouri. The band has released four studio albums, a live album, an EP and 12 singles.
Kittyhawk is an American emo band from Chicago, Illinois. The band has currently released one full-length album, one extended play, and four splits. The band broke up in 2016, but announced they were reunited and back in action in October 2019.
Home, Like Noplace Is There is the second studio album by American rock band The Hotelier. Released in 2014, the album received widespread critical acclaim and became recognized as one of the best emo revival albums of all time.
Rozwell Kid is an American indie rock band formed in 2011 in West Virginia, United States. They released their first studio album on Broken World Media and their most recent album on SideOneDummy.
Midwest emo refers to the emo scene and/or subgenre that developed in the 1990s Midwestern United States. Employing unconventional vocal stylings, distinct guitar riffs and arpeggiated melodies, Midwest emo bands shifted away from the genre's hardcore punk roots and drew on indie rock and math rock approaches. According to the author and critic Andy Greenwald, "this was the period when emo earned many, if not all, of the stereotypes that have lasted to this day: boy-driven, glasses-wearing, overly sensitive, overly brainy, chiming-guitar-driven college music." Midwest emo is sometimes used interchangeably with "second-wave emo". Although implied by the name, Midwest emo does not solely refer to bands and artists from the Midwestern United States, and the style is played by outfits across the United States and internationally.
Cardinal is the second studio album by American rock band Pinegrove, released February 12, 2016 on Run for Cover. Pinegrove formed in Montclair, New Jersey in 2010, and spent their early years self-releasing their music and performing at DIY shows. Their first record, Meridian, was released in 2012, and later compiled into the mixtape Everything So Far (2014). In the early 2010s, the members relocated from their hometown of Montclair to Brooklyn, New York. The band's frontman, singer-songwriter Evan Stephens Hall, however, decided to return home, where he and drummer Zack Levine produced Cardinal.
Get Disowned is Hop Along's second full-length album. It was released in March 2012 on Hot Green Records in the US and Big Scary Monsters in the UK/Europe. In 2016 it was reissued by Saddle Creek.
Dealer is the second studio album by American rock band Foxing. The album was released on October 30, 2015 through Triple Crown Records.
Always Foreign is the third studio album by american emo band the World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die. It was released on September 29, 2017 through Epitaph Records.
Illusory Walls is the fourth studio album by American emo band the World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die, released October 8, 2021, by Epitaph Records. The name of the album, as well as the lead single "Invading the World of the Guilty as a Spirit of Vengeance", is inspired by the video game series Dark Souls. It is the band's first album since the departure of guitarist-vocalists Tyler Bussey and Dylan Balliett and the death of founding member Tom Diaz. The album was followed by a tour through the fall, including a concert at Brooklyn's Elsewhere Hall which was recorded for their live album Thank You for Being Here.
I Became Birds is a 2021 release by American emo band Home Is Where.
