Natalie Merchant (album)

Natalie Merchant
Studio album by Natalie Merchant
Released	May 6, 2014 (2014-05-06)
Studio	The Clubhouse (Rhinebeck) Electric Lady (New York City) [1]
Length	47:25
Label	Nonesuch
Producer	Natalie Merchant
Natalie Merchant chronology
Leave Your Sleep (2010) Natalie Merchant (2014) Paradise Is There: The New Tigerlily Recordings (2015)

Natalie Merchant is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant, released on May 6, 2014 by Nonesuch Records. Her first studio album consisting of all original material since Motherland (2001), it revisits a characteristic theme of Merchant's, of "characters, and women in particular, struggling in a culture where odds are stacked against them". ^[2]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	73/100 [3]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Drowned in Sound	6/10 [5]
Exclaim!	7/10 [6]
PopMatters	7/10 [7]

Upon release, the album received mostly positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized score out of 100 based on reviews from critics, the album received a score of 73, indicating "generally favorable reviews". ^[3]

Commercial reception

In the United States, the album debuted at No. 20 on the Billboard 200 albums chart on its first week of release, ^[8] selling around 12,000 copies in the United States in its first week. It also debuted at No. 2 on Billboard's Folk Albums, ^[9] and No. 5 on the Rock Albums chart. ^[10] As of October 2015, the album has sold 44,000 copies in the US. ^[11]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Natalie Merchant.

Natalie Merchant track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Ladybird"	6:37
2.	"Maggie Said"	4:27
3.	"Texas"	5:02
4.	"Go Down Moses"	5:01
5.	"Seven Deadly Sins"	4:51
6.	"Giving Up Everything"	4:20
7.	"Black Sheep"	4:08
8.	"It's A-Coming"	3:50
9.	"Lulu (introduction)"	1:03
10.	"Lulu"	4:15
11.	"The End"	5:11
Total length:		47:25

Personnel

Credits adapted from CD liner notes. ^[1]

Musicians Natalie Merchant – vocals (1-8, 10, 11) Eddie Allen – flugelhorn (4, 5), trumpet (4, 5) Kyle Armbrust – viola (6, 11) Stephen Barber – string arrangement (1, 10), woodwind arrangement (10) Andrew Barr – drums (3, 8) Jonathan Dreyden – organ (8) Steve Elson – clarinet (7), saxophone (7) Tony Finno – string arrangement (6, 11) Nadège Foofat – string arrangement (6, 11) Marc Friedman – bass guitar (3, 8) Clark Gayton – horn arrangement (4), trombone (4, 5), tuba (4, 5) Quan Ge – violin (1, 6, 11) Mark Goldberg – bassoon (10) Gabriel Gordon – acoustic guitar (1-5, 7, 10), electric guitar (1, 2, 4, 6-8, 10) Vivek Kamath – viola (1) Mindy Kaufmann – flute (10) Lisa Kim – violin (1, 6, 10, 11) Liz Lim – violin (1, 6, 11) Joanna Maurer – violin (1, 6, 11) Jeremy McCoy – double bass (1, 6, 11) Anthony McGill – clarinet (10) John Medeski – organ (1, 4), electric keyboard (2) Elizabeth Mitchell – backing vocals (2, 6) Kurt Muroki – double bass (6, 11) Jesse Murphy – bass guitar (1, 2, 4, 6, 7), acoustic bass (5, 10), tuba (10) John Patitucci – double bass (1)

Shawn Pelton – drums (1, 2, 4-7) Erik Della Penna – electric guitar (1, 2, 4, 7, 8), lap steel guitar (3, 5), acoustic guitar (10) Robert Rinehart – viola (1, 6, 10, 11) Sein Ryu – violin (1, 6, 11) Uri Sharlin – grand piano (1, 4, 10), Wurlitzer piano (2), accordion (5), electric piano (7), tack piano (10) Corliss Stafford – vocals (4) Alan Stepansky – cello (1, 6, 10, 11) Simi Stone – backing vocals (1, 4) Tamar-kali – backing vocals (1) Johanna Warren – backing vocals (1, 2, 6) Kenny Wollesen – drums (10), percussion (10) Sharon Yamada – violin (1, 6, 10, 11) Ru Pie Yeh – cello (6, 11) Wei Yu – cello (1) Technical & design Natalie Merchant – production Paul Antonell – recording Elizabeth Bauer – engineering assistance Bella Blasko – engineering assistance George Cowan – recording Kabir Hermon – engineering assistance John Horne – engineering assistance F. Ron Miller – package design Alex Nappi – engineering assistance Eli Walker – recording, mixing Dan Winters – photography

Charts

Chart performance for Natalie Merchant

Chart (2014)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA) [12]	87
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [13]	29
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [14]	153
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [15]	17
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [16]	72
UK Albums (OCC) [17]	34
US Billboard 200 [18]	20
US Folk Albums (Billboard) [19]	2
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) [20]	5
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard) [21]	8

References

1. Natalie Merchant (CD liner notes). Natalie Merchant. USA: Nonesuch Records. 2014. 541042-2. Retrieved 17 December 2022 from Discogs.
2. Hermes, Will (May 7, 2014). "Album Review: Natalie Merchant". NPR. Retrieved October 15, 2022.
3. "Natalie Merchant by Natalie Merchant". Metacritic . Retrieved January 6, 2022.
4. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Natalie Merchant - Natalie Merchant | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic . Retrieved January 6, 2022.
5. Lukowski, Andrzej (April 29, 2014). "Album Review: Natalie Merchant - Natalie Merchant". Drowned in Sound . Retrieved January 6, 2022.
6. Henderson, Stuart (May 5, 2014). "Natalie Merchant Natalie Merchant | Exclaim!". Exclaim! . Retrieved January 6, 2022.
7. Casarino, Matt (May 8, 2014). "Natalie Merchant: Natalie Merchant, PopMatters". PopMatters. Retrieved January 6, 2022.
8. "Billboard 200". Billboard. May 24, 2014.
9. "Folk Albums". Billboard. May 24, 2014.
10. "Rock Albums". Billboard. May 24, 2014.
11. "Upcoming Releases". Hits Daily Double. HITS Digital Ventures. Archived from the original on October 29, 2015.
12. "The ARIA Report: Week Commencing 19 May 2014" (PDF). The ARIA Report (1264). ARIA: 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 20, 2014. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
13. "Ultratop.be – Natalie Merchant – Natalie Merchant" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
14. "Ultratop.be – Natalie Merchant – Natalie Merchant" (in French). Hung Medien.
15. "Dutchcharts.nl – Natalie Merchant – Natalie Merchant" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
16. "Offiziellecharts.de – Natalie Merchant – Natalie Merchant" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
17. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
18. "Natalie Merchant Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.
19. "Natalie Merchant Chart History (Top Americana/Folk Albums)". Billboard.
20. "Natalie Merchant Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard.
21. "Natalie Merchant Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard.