The Balcony (album)

Last updated

The Balcony
The Balcony Catfish and the Bottlemen.jpg
Studio album by
Released15 September 2014 (2014-09-15)
Genre
Length37:38
Label
Producer Jim Abbiss
Catfish and the Bottlemen chronology
Kathleen and the Other Three
(2014)
The Balcony
(2014)
The Ride
(2016)
Singles from The Balcony
  1. "Homesick"
    Released: 18 May 2013
  2. "Rango"
    Released: 13 August 2013
  3. "Kathleen"
    Released: 18 March 2014
  4. "Fallout"
    Released: 7 July 2014
  5. "Cocoon"
    Released: 23 September 2014
  6. "Pacifier"
    Released: 1 December 2014
  7. "Hourglass"
    Released: 19 August 2015
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 52/100 [1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Clash 6/10 [3]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [4]
musicOMH Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [5]
NME 4/10 [6]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]
XS Noize7/10 [7]

The Balcony is the debut studio album by Welsh indie rock band Catfish and the Bottlemen. It was released on 15 September 2014 in the United Kingdom and 15 January 2015 in the United States. On 20 March 2015, The Balcony was awarded a Gold certification from the British Phonographic Industry. The album cover depicts outlines of two headless people pleasuring each other's genitals. The illustration is by New York artist Tim Lahan who originally posted it to his Flickr account in 2009 and was subsequently contacted by the band. [8]

Contents

The Balcony has been nominated for the Welsh Music Prize 2014–15. [9] As the band's second album The Ride was releasing, it was reported that The Balcony had sold 250,000 copies. [10] In the United States, the album has sold 37,000 copies as of April 2016. [11]

Reception

Critical reception of the album was mixed, with review aggregator Metacritic giving it 52/100 based on 6 reviews. [1] Writing for AllMusic, Scott Kerr gave it three and a half stars out of five, saying that McCann's "weathered and assured vocals" gave an impression of a more experienced band and that Billy Bibby provided "grand Johnny Marr-inspired guitar hooks that are unapologetically catchy, gritty, and full of swagger". [2] Ben Homewood of NME was more critical, giving the album 4/10 for being "ham-fisted and about nine years too late" despite "unstoppable desire and conviction". [6] Tillie Elvrum of XS Noize rated the album 7/10, calling it "an incredibly polished debut album." [7]

Track listing

Lyrics by Van McCann and music by Catfish and the Bottlemen

No.TitleLength
1."Homesick"2:30
2."Kathleen"2:43
3."Cocoon"3:59
4."Fallout"3:32
5."Pacifier"4:00
6."Hourglass"2:20
7."Business"3:43
8."26"3:41
9."Rango"3:00
10."Sidewinder"3:29
11."Tyrants"4:41
Total length:37:38

Trivia

An edited version of their song "Cocoon" was featured in the EA Sports game, FIFA 15, as a part of the game's soundtrack. Ewan McGregor features in the music video for the single "Hourglass".

Personnel

Catfish and the Bottlemen
Additional musicians
Additional personnel

Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI) [21] 2× Platinum600,000

Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

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References

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  2. 1 2 Kerr, Scott. "The Balcony – Catfish and the Bottlemen". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation . Retrieved 13 January 2015.
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  4. Gibsone, Harriet (11 September 2014). "Catfish and the Bottlemen – The Balcony review, self-assured, if dated". The Guardian . Retrieved 20 January 2015.
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  6. 1 2 Homewood, Ben (23 September 2014). "Catfish & The Bottlemen – 'The Balcony'". NME . Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  7. 1 2 Elvrum, Tillie (15 January 2015). "Catfish and the Bottlemen - The Balcony" . Retrieved 15 January 2015.
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  10. Petridis, Alexis (26 May 2016). "Catfish and the Bottlemen: The Ride review – crushingly prosaic indie rock". Theguardian.com. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
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