Liberman | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | October 23, 2015 | |||
Recorded | March–July 2015 | |||
Studio | Real World Studios, Playground Sound [1] | |||
Genre | Indie pop [2] | |||
Length | 35:18 [2] | |||
Label | Dine Alone Records | |||
Producer | Steve Osborne, Adam Landry | |||
Vanessa Carlton chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Liberman | ||||
Liberman is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton, released in the US on October 23, 2015 and in the UK and Europe on April 29, through Dine Alone Records. [6] It is the follow-up to Carlton's 2011 album Rabbits on the Run and marks her first release since signing with Dine Alone Records. [1] The title of the album comes from an oil painting made by Carlton's late grandfather, whose given surname was Liberman. [7]
Following the 2011 release Rabbits on the Run, Carlton took time off to get married, start a family, and write another album. She told CBS News that these changes in her life are reflected in Liberman's songs, and that she "wanted the whole album to feel like an escape type of album, where you put it on and you feel like you're in this dreamy state." [7]
To avoid preconceived notions, demos recorded were sent to Dine Alone Records without Carlton's name attached. Label president Joel Carriere says of hearing the demos:
The songs were amazing, it was atmospheric, it kind of fit into what we're all into ... and we never would have guessed it was Vanessa Carlton because her voice has developed so much since her pop songs 14 years ago and the songwriting had obviously changed. We were, like: "Yeah, we want to do this. But what is it we're doing?" [8]
In support of the album, Carlton embarked on the "Liberman" tour throughout portions of the United States and Canada in the fall of 2015 and winter of 2016. Special guest on the tour was Joshua Hyslop. [9] [10] The tour continued in the UK and Europe in the spring of 2016. [11]
The first single, "Operator", was released for digital download on September 25, 2015. [3] A music video for the single, directed by Daniel Henry, was released on October 13, 2015. According to Carlton, the video shows the classic tale of children running away reversed, so instead the parents are running away. [12] The second single, "House of Seven Swords", was released for digital download. Since Liberman was already released, it was not released separately, like "Operator", but it was made a single on November 18, 2015. [13] Daniel Henry also directed a music video for "House of Seven Swords" which was released the same day as the single and shows Carlton playing piano and singing the song at home in Nashville. The Wall Street Journal writes of the video:
she takes her baby daughter out into the yard, making "House of Seven Swords" seem like sage advice from mother to child. In a way, Carlton says, it is. "At the same time, the song is absolutely a message to myself, too, probably," she says. Henry shot the footage they used in the video in about an hour while making a different clip with Carlton, and they fit the images to the song. "It was all very organic," she says. [14]
Steve Osborne's remix of "Nothing Where Something Used To Be" was released worldwide as the third single off Liberman on April 8, 2016.
Other songs from Liberman were released with music and lyric videos for promotional purposes. "Young Heart", a song that does not appear on the album, was released as a "pre-single" with an "Official Dream Video" on April 20, 2015, as a way to release information that Carlton had signed with Dine Alone Records. [15] A music video for "Blue Pool" was released on August 3, 2015, to promote the Blue Pool EP. [16] A lyric video was released for "Willows" on August 27, 2015, as a way to reveal the album artwork, track listing, and release date. [17] On November 17, 2015, The Wall Street Journal premiered the music video for "House of Seven Swords". [4]
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 77/100 [18] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [2] |
The Boston Globe | Positive [19] |
Glide Magazine | 8/10 [20] |
Paste | 7.9/10 [21] |
Pitchfork | 7.8/10 [22] |
PopMatters | 8/10 [23] |
Rolling Stone | [24] |
Liberman received mostly positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 77 out of 100, which indicates "generally favorable reviews" based on 7 reviews. [18]
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic rated the album four out of five stars, stating: "Carlton is still avoiding any of the grand gestures that defined her earliest work but at this point, this quietly meditative pop feels like a truer reflection of her intentions than 'A Thousand Miles'." [2] Pitchfork's Matthew Schnipper rated the album 7.8 out of ten, writing: "Carlton's voice is the key attraction on songs [from Liberman] that register between low-key pop, rock, and folk." [22] The Boston Globe 's Ken Capobianco states: "Carlton's reinvention finds her a long way from 'A Thousand Miles' – and in a better place, artistically." [19]
Adapted from AllMusic [2] and the album's liner notes.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Take It Easy" | Osborne | 5:32 | |
2. | "Willows" |
| Osborne | 2:53 |
3. | "House of Seven Swords" |
| Osborne | 3:43 |
4. | "Operator" |
| Adam Landry | 3:16 |
5. | "Blue Pool" | Carlton [29] | Osborne | 3:16 |
6. | "Nothing Where Something Used to Be" |
| Osborne | 4:01 |
7. | "Matter of Time" | Carlton [31] | Osborne | 3:16 |
8. | "Unlock the Lock" | Carlton [32] | Osborne | 3:11 |
9. | "River" | Carlton [33] | Landry | 3:33 |
10. | "Ascension" |
| Landry | 2:37 |
Total length: | 35:18 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
11. | "Blue Pool" (Living Room Session) | Carlton [29] | 2:42 |
12. | "River" (Living Room Session) | Carlton [33] | 2:50 |
13. | "Take It Easy" (Living Room Session) |
| 4:29 |
14. | "Willows" (Living Room Session) |
| 2:52 |
15. | "House of the Seven Swords" (Original Demo) |
| 3:00 |
16. | "Operator" (Living Room Session) |
| 3:15 |
17. | "Unlock the Lock" (Living Room Session) | Carlton [32] | 3:11 |
18. | "Nothing Where Something Used to Be" (Living Room Session) |
| 3:52 |
Credits adapted from AllMusic [35]
Musicians
Technical
Chart (2015) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Independent Albums (Billboard) [36] | 32 |
Region | Date | Format(s) | Label | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
United States | October 23, 2015 | Dine Alone Records | [37] | |
UK & Europe | April 29, 2016 | Dine Alone/Caroline Records | [11] |
Stephanie Lynn Nicks is an American singer, songwriter, and producer known for her work with the band Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist.
Vanessa Lee Carlton is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Her debut album, Be Not Nobody (2002) released by A&M Records, received a platinum certification in the United States, and her debut single "A Thousand Miles" spent 41 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned three Grammy nominations. The album also spawned the singles "Ordinary Day" and "Pretty Baby". Her next album, Harmonium (2004) debuted at number 33 on the Billboard 200. The album marked a stalwart divergence from pressure from record label executives who wanted to influence the recording. After departing from A&M in 2005, Carlton released Heroes & Thieves in 2007. Despite minimal chart success, the album was a critical success, receiving praise from Metacritic, Allmusic, PopMatters, and USA Today.
Be Not Nobody is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton, released on April 30, 2002, through A&M Records. As of late 2004 the album had sold 1.38 million copies in the US according to Nielsen SoundScan, and Variety magazine reported in July 2003 that it had sold 2.3 million worldwide. Billboard magazine placed Carlton at number twenty-one on its year-end "Top Pop Artists" list for 2002.
"Big Yellow Taxi" is a song written, composed, and originally recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell in 1970, and originally released on her album Ladies of the Canyon. It was a hit in her native Canada as well as Australia and the UK. It only reached No. 67 in the US in 1970, but was later a bigger hit there for her in a live version released in 1974, which peaked at No. 24. Charting versions have also been recorded by the Neighborhood, and most notably by Amy Grant in 1994 and Counting Crows in 2002. The song was also sampled in Janet Jackson's "Got 'til It's Gone" (1997).
Elizabeth T. Wyce "Yummy" Bingham is an American singer.
"A Thousand Miles" is the debut single of American pop singer Vanessa Carlton. Produced by Curtis Schweitzer and Ron Fair, the song was released as the lead single for Carlton's first album, Be Not Nobody (2002). First released to US radio in February 2002, it became Carlton's biggest hit in the United States and her only single to reach the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number five. The song also experienced commercial success worldwide, reaching number one in Australia, number three in Ireland, and the top 10 in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.
The Maccabees were an English indie rock band, formed in 2004 in London. They released four albums: Colour It In in 2007, followed by Wall of Arms in 2009, Given to the Wild which was released on 9 January 2012 and their last album Marks to Prove It released on 31 July 2015. The band announced that they decided to disband in August 2016, with farewell gigs in 2017.
Heroes & Thieves is the third album by American singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton, released by The Inc. Records on October 9, 2007. It is co-produced by Irv Gotti, Linda Perry and Third Eye Blind lead singer Stephan Jenkins, who produced Carlton's second album, Harmonium (2004), and Carlton co-wrote the tracks with Perry and Jenkins. It is Carlton's only album on The Inc. Records, after Irv Gotti signed her to a record deal there in late 2006, and Gotti has said that Heroes & Thieves is the first album on which he is acting as "co-pilot" rather than "dictator".
Jim Flynn was an American country music songwriter. Flyn joined the United States Army and was part of "Operation Gyroscope" deployed to Germany as part of the Cold War efforts. As a civilian, he returned to Lewiston and worked his way through business college. Later he became a high school teacher and sports coach, then selling textbooks to public schools. Flynn began writing story songs on video sharing sites such as YouTube.
Wordshaker is the second studio album by British-Irish girl group The Saturdays, released on 12 October 2009 through Fascination Records. It is the group's first album to feature a song where they are credited as writers. Upon release the album peaked at number nine on the UK Albums Chart, but the following week fell out of the top 30. In August 2010, the album was removed from digital music platforms, due to their EP Headlines! being released featuring some of the same material. In August 2018, the album returned to digital music platforms following a request to the label by the Pop Music Activism Twitter account.
The Invisible Men is a songwriting and music production duo consisting of Jason Pebworth & George Astasio. Invisible Men's songs have so far achieved over 7 billion Spotify streams, 30 million record sales worldwide and the trio has frequently ranked among Music Week's Top Songwriters. They co-produced and co-composed Iggy Azalea's seven week US #1 single "Fancy" which has sold in excess of 11 million copies digitally worldwide to date, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time and the seventh best-selling single worldwide of 2014. As well as her US million-selling debut single, "Work", and a vast portion of Azalea's debut album The New Classic. The Invisible Men as IIVI co-produced six of the seven tracks on Lil Peep's 2017 album "Come Over When You're Sober Pt. 1", as well as the majority of its follow-up "Pt. 2", alongside other stand-alone tracks including "Falling Down", I've Been Waiting and When I Lie (Remix).
Rabbits on the Run is the fourth studio album from Vanessa Carlton, released on July 26, 2011, through Razor & Tie.
Audacious is the debut studio album by American hip-hop artist CupcakKe, released on October 14, 2016. It was preceded by the release of two mixtapes, S.T.D and Cum Cake. CupcakKe released it independently. The album was preceded by its leading single "Picking Cotton".
Love Is an Art is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton, released in the US on March 27, 2020 through Dine Alone Records. It is the follow-up to Carlton's 2015 album Liberman and marks her second studio album release since signing with Dine Alone Records.