Leave Your Soul to Science

Last updated

Leave Your Soul to Science
Leave Your Soul to Science.jpg
Studio album by
Released28 September 2012
RecordedElmwood Recording, Dallas, Texas
Genre Alternative rock
Length46:41
Label Capitol
Producer John Congleton
Something for Kate chronology
Live at the Corner
(2008)
Leave Your Soul to Science
(2012)
The Modern Medieval
(2020)
Singles from Leave Your Soul to Science
  1. "Survival Expert"
    Released: 2012
  2. "Miracle Cure"
    Released: December 2012
  3. "Star-crossed Citizens"
    Released: 2013
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
The Age Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Sunday Herald Sun Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]

Leave Your Soul to Science is the sixth studio album by Melbourne band Something for Kate, released on 28 September 2012. The album debuted at No.5 on the ARIA Charts. The album was produced by John Congleton, whose previous credits include Okkervil River, Shearwater and The New Pornographers and recorded at his Elmwood studio in Dallas, Texas. Frontman Paul Dempsey told The Age the band had been looking for someone to tell them when enough was enough. "We recognised an inclination or proclivity among ourselves to procrastinate and keep layering stuff up," he said. "We knew that we needed to fight that instinct and he was very much the guy to help us." [3]

Contents

He told the Hobart Mercury Congleton was "the perfect guy for our new-found relaxed attitude": "He's a real experimenter and we were feeling very experimental ourselves. The four of us would just sit around and throw out ideas, and do the strangest, dumbest things and see what worked. Whenever we thought something was weird and interesting but we weren't sure about it, we'd just run with it any sort of uncertainty was a good thing. We ran with the uncertainty and embraced the feeling of not being 100 per cent sure of everything we were doing."

Dempsey said he had been unsatisfied with the way some songs on previous albums had been captured.

"In previous years we were concerned with being perfectionists, and trying to make everything just so. What we realised after a long time is that that actually can end up sucking the life out of things, and that perhaps the better way to do things is to fly by the seat of your pants and rely on the spontaneous energy of the moment. Some of our past records have suffered a bit from too much nitpicking, and this latest record really has zero nitpicking. There's plenty of audible mistakes and weird moments where we just went fuck it, just leave it, it's all part of what happens when you hit record." [4]

Dempsey said the album's lyrics contained an abundance of often cryptic black humour. He said he found the lyrics of "This Economy", a song of lost love set in the context of the 2007–2008 financial crisis, "hilariously funny". "The song reeks of (disgraced businessman) Bernie Madoff and it reeks of young Wall Street executives who equate the size of their wallets with the success of their human relationships," he said. Dempsey said he was not bothered if people misunderstood his lyrics. "If my humour doesn't translate, there shouldn't need to be a press release letting everyone know that I'm funny." [3]

The album's cover and inner book photography was by bassist Stephanie Ashworth.

Track listing

(All songs by Something For Kate)

  1. "Star-Crossed Citizens" – 3:41
  2. "Survival Expert" – 3:16
  3. "Private Rain" – 5:00
  4. "The Kids Will Get the Money" – 4:52
  5. "Sooner Or Later You're Gonna Have to Do Something About Me" – 3:25
  6. "Miracle Cure" – 3:21
  7. "Deep Sea Divers" – 3:51
  8. "This Economy" – 3:46
  9. "Back to Normal" – 3:55
  10. "The Fireball at the End of Everything" – 4:53
  11. "Eureka" – 3:22
  12. "Begin" – 3:18

Bonus disc, Shotgun Karaoke

  1. "Survival Expert (acoustic) – 3:20
  2. "Hanging On" (Active Child) – 3:49
  3. "Let's Dance" (David Bowie) – 3:45
  4. "Ship of Fools" (Karl Wallinger) – 4:18
  5. "Stop" (Sam Brown, Bruce Brody, Gregg Sutton) – 4:27

Charts

Chart (2012)Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA) [5] 5

Personnel

Something for Kate
Additional personnel

Release history

RegionDateFormatEdition(s)LabelCatalogue
Australia28 September 2012Standard EMI Music / Capitol Records 4042422 4
  • 2×CD
Special Edition4042392 0
July 2014
  • 2×CD
Deluxe Edition, Reissue3791973
August 2018
  • LP
Limited Edition, Reissue4042431

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Something for Kate</span> Australian alternative rock band

Something for Kate are an Australian alternative rock band, which formed in 1994 with Paul Dempsey on lead vocals and guitar, and Clint Hyndman on drums. They were joined in 1998 by Stephanie Ashworth on bass guitar and backing vocals. The group have released seven studio albums: both The Official Fiction (2003) and Desert Lights (2006) topped the ARIA Albums Chart; while Beautiful Sharks (1999), Echolalia (2001) and Leave Your Soul to Science (2012) reached the top 10. Two of their singles have reached the ARIA top 20: "Monsters" (2001) and "Déjà Vu" (2003). The band have received a total of 11 nominations for ARIA Music Awards in 1999, 2001 and 2003.

<i>Toys in the Attic</i> (album) 1975 album by Aerosmith

Toys in the Attic is the third studio album by American rock band Aerosmith, released on April 8, 1975, by Columbia Records. Its first single, "Sweet Emotion", was released on May 19 and the original version of "Walk This Way" followed on August 28 in the same year. The album is the band's most commercially successful studio LP in the United States, with nine million copies sold, according to the RIAA. In 2003, the album was ranked No. 228 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The album's title track and their collaboration with Run-DMC on a cover version of "Walk This Way" are included on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame list of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll".

<i>Think Tank</i> (Blur album) 2003 studio album by Blur

Think Tank is the seventh studio album by the English rock band Blur, released on 5 May 2003. Continuing the jam-based studio constructions of the group's previous album, 13 (1999), the album expanded on the use of sampled rhythm loops and brooding, heavy electronic sounds. There are also heavy influences from dance music, hip hop, dub, jazz, and African music, an indication of songwriter Damon Albarn's expanding musical interests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Dempsey</span> Australian musician

Paul Anthony Dempsey is an Australian musician. He is best known as the lead singer, guitarist and principal lyricist of rock group Something for Kate. Dempsey released his debut solo album, Everything Is True, on 20 August 2009, which peaked at No. 5 on the ARIA Albums Chart. He has also produced and co-written albums for other artists, including Mosman Alder.

<i>Some Fantastic Place</i> 1993 studio album by Squeeze

Some Fantastic Place is the tenth studio album by the British new wave group Squeeze, released in 1993 by A&M Records. Their first album since the departure of original Squeeze drummer Gilson Lavis, it features Pete Thomas and the brief return of keyboardist/vocalist Paul Carrack, who had previously appeared on East Side Story (1981). "Loving You Tonight" became only the second Squeeze song cut in thirteen years to feature Carrack singing a lead part. Additionally, bassist Keith Wilkinson wrote and sang "True Colours ", the first song on a Squeeze album not written by Glenn Tilbrook, Chris Difford, Jools Holland, or any combination of those three.

<i>Mr. Happy Go Lucky</i> 1996 studio album by John Mellencamp

Mr. Happy Go Lucky is the 14th album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp. It was released on September 10, 1996. It was his first album released after his heart attack in 1994. Mellencamp's music on the album is said to reflect his brush with death. The album was recorded in Belmont, Indiana, in Mellencamp's Belmont Mall recording studio. The first single from the album, "Key West Intermezzo ," peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is his last Top 40 single in the United States to date. "Just Another Day" was the album's second single and stalled at No. 46 on the Billboard Hot 100.

<i>Silver & Gold</i> (Neil Young album) 2000 studio album by Neil Young

Silver & Gold is the 25th studio album by Canadian/American musician Neil Young, released on April 25, 2000. Like the previous albums Comes a Time and Harvest Moon and the subsequent Prairie Wind, it largely features acoustic performances with a backing band of Nashville musicians with a long history of collaboration with Young.

<i>Allroy Sez</i> 1988 studio album by All

Allroy Sez is the debut album by the American punk rock band All, released in March 1988 through Cruz Records. Following the departure of singer Milo Aukerman from the Descendents, the remaining members—bassist Karl Alvarez, guitarist Stephen Egerton, and drummer Bill Stevenson—recruited singer Dave Smalley and changed the name of the band to All, which was both the title of the Descendents' 1987 album and a philosophical concept invented by Stevenson and friend Pat McCuistion in 1980. Allroy Sez introduced the character of Allroy, who would serve as a mascot for the band and be featured on many of their subsequent album covers.

<i>Nobodys Fools</i> 1976 studio album by Slade

Nobody's Fools is the sixth studio album by the British rock group Slade. It was released in March 1976 and reached No. 14 in the UK. The album was produced by Chas Chandler.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephanie Ashworth</span> Australian musician

Stephanie Ashworth is an Australian bassist, photographer, artist and columnist, known for being a member with the bands Sandpit and Something for Kate, where she performs with her spouse and frontman, Paul Dempsey.

<i>Desert Lights</i> 2006 studio album by Something for Kate

Desert Lights is the fifth studio album by Australian band, Something for Kate, released on 1 June 2006. It peaked at No. 1 on the ARIA Charts – their second studio album to do so after The Official Fiction. Desert Lights was accredited gold by ARIA for shipment of 35,000 copies by the end of 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Red Shoes (song)</span> 1994 single by Kate Bush

"The Red Shoes" is a song written and performed by English musician Kate Bush. It was the fourth single released from her seventh studio album, The Red Shoes (1993). The single was released in April 1994 by EMI. The song peaked at No. 21 and spent 3 weeks on the UK Singles Chart.

<i>Beautiful Sharks</i> 1999 studio album by Something for Kate

Beautiful Sharks is the second studio album by Australian band Something for Kate, released in June 1999. It marked a change in musical direction for the band, employing interesting and unconventional chord progressions and production. Sounding more sparse and open than their intense debut effort, the album produced four singles: "Electricity", "Whatever You Want", "The Astronaut" and "Hallways". It also had a limited edition release as a two-CD package, with multimedia content on the second disc. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2001, the album was nominated for Best Adult Alternative Album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bad Cover Version</span> 2002 single by Pulp

"Bad Cover Version" is a song by British rock band Pulp, from their 2001 album We Love Life. It was released 15 April 2002 as the second single from the album, charting at number 27 in the UK Singles Chart. It was the band's last single before their eight-year hiatus, which ended in 2011. CD1's B-sides appear as bonus tracks on the US release of We Love Life. The B-sides to CD2 are cover versions of Pulp songs performed by other artists.

<i>Phantom Limbs: Selected B-Sides</i> 2004 compilation album by Something for Kate

Phantom Limbs: Selected B-Sides is a compilation double album by Australian band Something for Kate. Released in 2004, it contains B-sides from singles released from their first four albums, including live versions and cover versions of songs by artists including David Bowie, Duran Duran and Australian rock band Jebediah.

<i>The Murmur Years</i> 2007 greatest hits album by Something for Kate

The Murmur Years: The Best of Something for Kate 1996 - 2007, was a retrospective double compilation album issued in August 2007. It comprises 33 tracks by Australian rock band Something for Kate spanning more than 10 years of the band's career from 1996 to 2007. The band handpicked songs for the album from early EPs, their five studio albums, live favourites and covers, along with a new track, "The Futurist". It peaked at No. 26 on the ARIA Albums Chart in early September.

<i>From Scotland with Love</i> Album by King Creosote

From Scotland with Love is a documentary feature film produced by Grant Kier, Heather Croall and Mark Atkin and directed by Virginia Heath, soundtracked by an original studio album by Scottish singer-songwriter King Creosote.

<i>The Magnificent Few</i> 2015 EP by James Reyne

The Magnificent Few is an extended play (EP) credited to James Reyne. The EP was released independently on 3 July 2015. The EP was funded by fans through PledgeMusic and 20% of all money raised will be donated to the Leukaemia Foundation. The Magnificent Few is Reyne on vocals, Phil Ceberano on guitar, John Watson on drums, Andy McIvor on bass and Brett Kingman on guitar. The cover art is designed by Damian Fulton.

<i>The Stories We Tell Ourselves</i> 2017 studio album by Nothing More

The Stories We Tell Ourselves is the fifth studio album by the American rock band Nothing More, which was released on September 15, 2017. It is the band's second album to be released on the Eleven Seven Music record label. The album's first single, "Go to War", topped the Billboard US Mainstream Rock Songs chart in November 2017. The band received three Grammy Award nominations related to the album; Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song for "Go to War", and Best Rock Album for the album itself. A second single, "Do You Really Want It", was released in December 2017, while a number of promotional singles, such as "Don't Stop", were released across 2017 as well. A third single, "Just Say When", was released in April 2018. The album's fourth single, "Let 'Em Burn", was released in December 2018.

<i>The Modern Medieval</i> 2020 studio album by Something for Kate

The Modern Medieval is the seventh studio album by Melbourne band Something for Kate, released on 20 November 2020.

References

  1. Andrew Watt, The Age, 28 September 2012.
  2. Graeme Hammond, Sunday Herald Sun, 7 October 2012.
  3. 1 2 Levin, Darren (28 September 2012), "Something for the jokers", The Age, retrieved 8 October 2012
  4. Kane Young, "Something of a revelation", The Mercury, 13 June 2013, pg 37.
  5. "Australiancharts.com – Something for Kate – {{{album}}}". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 April 2020.