Platform (album)

Platform
Studio album by Holly Herndon
Released	May 19, 2015 (2015-5-19)
Genre	Electronic experimental pop sound collage
Length	49:36
Label	4AD
Producer	Holly Herndon, Amnesia Scanner, Mat Dryhurst
Holly Herndon chronology
Chorus EP (2014) Platform (2015) Proto (2019)

Platform is the second studio album by American electronic producer Holly Herndon, released on May 19, 2015, via 4AD. The album received wide critical acclaim upon its release. ^[1] It is the first commercially released album to include a track intended to trigger autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR), "Lonely at the Top". ^{[2] [3] [4] [5] [6]}

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.9/10 [7]
Metacritic	81/100 [1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
The Guardian	[9]
The Irish Times	[10]
NME	8/10 [11]
Pitchfork	8.7/10 [12]
Q	[13]
Resident Advisor	4.0/5 [14]
Rolling Stone	[15]
Spin	7/10 [16]
Uncut	9/10 [17]

Winston Cook-Wilson of Pitchfork wrote that "Platform may turn out to be the most thought-provoking experimental electronic music release of the year." ^[12] Laurie Tuffrey of The Quietus wrote that "in so solidly refuting musical clichés, it can genuinely lay claim to the oft-used description forward-facing." ^[18] The Guardian 's Tshepo Mokoena wrote that "[Herndon] turns cold, lifeless synthetic beats into disconcerting, disjointed rhythms that glitch and collapse on each other", describing the album as "gloriously avant garde and fiercely inventive." ^[9] Drowned in Sound wrote that "at once Herndon’s most accessible and most adventurous record, this is digital age avant-garde sound art put through a pop prism, and it’s all the more exciting as a result." ^[19] Heather Phares of AllMusic described the album as "nuanced in how it combines political, technological and structural and ideological concepts." ^[8] In naming Platform among 2015's best experimental albums, PopMatters wrote: "It’s fair to say if you're unfamiliar with [Herndon's] work, you've never heard anything like it: EDM-streaked sound collage, at once robotic and deeply personal." ^[20]

Accolades

Publication	Accolade	Year	Rank
The Guardian	The Best Albums of 2015	2015	24 [21]
NME	NME's Albums of the Year 2015	2015	26 [22]
Pitchfork	The 50 Best Albums of 2015	2015	39 [23]
PopMatters	The 10 Best Experimental Albums of 2015	2015	6 [20]
The Wire	Top 50 Releases of 2015	2015	6 [24]

Track listing

All songs written and produced by Holly Herndon; except where noted

Platform ^[25]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Interference"		Holly Herndon, Mat Dryhurst	4:41
2.	"Chorus"		Herndon, Dryhurst	5:55
3.	"Unequal"	Herndon, Colin Self		5:11
4.	"Morning Sun"		Herndon, Dryhurst	5:21
5.	"Locker Leak"	Herndon, Spencer Longo		4:15
6.	"An Exit"	Herndon, Amnesia Scanner	Herndon, Amnesia Scanner	4:58
7.	"Lonely at the Top"	Herndon, Claire Tolan		4:31
8.	"DAO"			4:13
9.	"Home"		Herndon, Dryhurst	5:53
10.	"New Ways to Love"		Herndon, Dryhurst	4:38

Charts

Chart (2015)	Peak position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [26]	183
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard) [27]	20
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard) [28]	13

References

1. "Reviews for Platform by Holly Herndon". Metacritic . Retrieved May 22, 2015.
2. Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (April 26, 2015). "Holly Herndon: the queen of tech-topia". The Guardian . Retrieved December 31, 2015.
3. Sherburne, Philip (March 31, 2015). "Holly Herndon's collective vision". Pitchfork . Retrieved December 31, 2015.
4. Corcoran, Nina (May 22, 2015). "Holly Herndon goes off the grid". Consequence of Sound . Retrieved December 31, 2015.
5. Jacoby, Sarah (May 21, 2015). "Does this song trigger your ASMR?". Refinery29 . Retrieved December 31, 2015.
6. Cliff, Aimee (May 13, 2015). "Holly Herndon's new horizons". Dazed . Retrieved December 31, 2015.
7. "Platform by Holly Herndon reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
8. Phares, Heather. "Platform – Holly Herndon". AllMusic . Retrieved May 22, 2015.
9. Mokoena, Tshepo (May 14, 2015). "Holly Herndon: Platform review – fiercely inventive, brain-tingling techno". The Guardian . Retrieved May 22, 2015.
10. Carroll, Jim (May 15, 2015). "Holly Herndon: Platform | Album Review". The Irish Times . Retrieved May 22, 2015.
11. Pattison, Louis (May 1, 2015). "Holly Herndon – 'Platform'". NME . Archived from the original on April 8, 2016. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
12. Cook-Wilson, Winston (May 21, 2015). "Holly Herndon: Platform". Pitchfork . Retrieved May 22, 2015.
13. "Holly Herndon: Platform". Q (347): 107. June 2015.
14. Maleney, Ian (June 3, 2015). "Holly Herndon – Platform". Resident Advisor . Retrieved May 22, 2015.
15. Dolan, Jon (July 29, 2015). "Platform". Rolling Stone . Retrieved May 13, 2016.
16. Joyce, Colin (May 20, 2015). "Review: Holly Herndon Pioneers the Skype Breakup Album With 'Platform'". Spin . Retrieved May 20, 2015.
17. Dalton, Stephen (June 10, 2015). "Holly Herndon – Platform". Uncut . Archived from the original on December 4, 2019. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
18. Tuffrey, Laurie (June 2, 2015). "Holly Herndon: Platform". The Quietus . Retrieved June 2, 2015.
19. Bland, Benjamin (14 May 2015). "Album Review: Holly Herndon – Platform". Drowned in Sound . Retrieved 14 May 2015.
20. Harrison, A Noa (August 4, 2020). "The 10 Best Experimental Albums of 2015". PopMatters. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
21. "The Best Albums of 2015". The Guardian . December 2, 2015. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
22. "NME's Albums of the Year 2015". NME . Retrieved December 10, 2015.
23. "The 50 Best Albums of 2015". Pitchfork . December 16, 2015. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
24. "2015 Rewind: Releases of the Year 1–50" . The Wire . No. 383. London. January 2016. p. 32 – via Exact Editions.
25. ""Platform" von Holly Herndon". iTunes . 15 May 2015.
26. "Ultratop.be – Holly Herndon – Platform" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
27. "Holly Herndon Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
28. "Holly Herndon Chart History (Top Dance/Electronic Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 5, 2019.