Primary Colours is the second studio album by British post-punk revival band The Horrors. It was released in the US on 21 April 2009, and in the UK on 4 May 2009 by XL Recordings. The album charted on the UK Albums Chart at No. 25. According to aggregating website Metacritic, the record was met with "universal critical acclaim", receiving a normalisedscore of 82% based on 19 reviews.[12] On 21 July 2009, the album was announced as one of the 12 albums shortlisted for the year's Mercury Prize award.[13] Primary Colours was named the best album of the year by NME and in 2013 they named it the 218th greatest album of all time.[14]
Contents[]
Album history[edit][]
At the end of 2007, The Horrors announced the forthcoming recording of a new album. The album was produced by Geoff Barrow of Portishead, Craig Silvey, and music video director Chris Cunningham. Recording took place in Bath during the summer of 2008. The band signed to XL Recordings after they left Loog Records in 2007. Regarding their time in the studio, band member Rhys "Spider" Webb commented: "We had such an amazing time working on it, writing it and getting lost in it... we'd wander into the studio, and then never want to leave."[15]
Prior to the album's release, the band released a cover of Suicide's "Shadazz" on a split single released by Blast First Petite as part of their tribute to Alan Vega in October 2008. On 17 March 2009, the 8-minute music video for "Sea Within a Sea", directed by former The Jesus and Mary Chain bassist Douglas Hart, was posted on the band's website. The song was released as a digital download-only single, and full details of Primary Colours also surfaced. Following the album's release, the single "Who Can Say" was released on 7" vinyl.[16]
In a preview article, music journalist Mike Diver commented that the album is "set to be one of the year's best" and that it was "wholly worth all the hype that's attracted to its unexpected brilliance."[17]
Track listing[edit][]
- "Mirror's Image" – 4:51
- "Three Decades" – 2:50
- "Who Can Say" – 3:41
- "Do You Remember" – 3:28
- "New Ice Age" – 4:25
- "Scarlet Fields" – 4:43
- "I Only Think of You" – 7:07
- "I Can't Control Myself" – 3:28
- "Primary Colours" – 3:02
- "Sea Within a Sea" – 7:59
- Japan-only bonus tracks
- "You Could Never Tell" – 3:30
- "Whole New Way" – 4:58
- "Sea Within a Sea" (enhanced video) – 8:24
Credits[edit][]
- All songs written and arranged by The Horrors
- Produced, mixed, and engineered by The Horrors, Craig Silvey, and Geoff Barrow
- Tracks 2 and 9 produced by Chris Cunningham
- Artwork by Ciaran O'Shea
Chart performance[edit][]
| Chart | Provider(s) | Peak
position |
|---|---|---|
| Belgium Walloon Albums Chart[18] | IFPI | 40 |
| France Physical Albums Chart[18] | SNEP | 141 |
| UK Albums Chart[19] | BPI | 25 |