Black Swan (album)

Black Swan
Studio album by Athlete
Released	24 August 2009
Recorded	March–June 2009
Genre	Indie rock, alternative rock, post-Britpop
Length	44:11 + 22:03 (bonus CD)
Label	Fiction Records
Producer	Tom Rothrock
Athlete chronology
Beyond the Neighbourhood (2007) Black Swan (2009)

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	52/100[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
The Guardian	[3]
Paste	[4]
PopMatters	[5]
Slant Magazine	[6]

Black Swan is the fourth album by English rock band Athlete.^[7] released on 24 August 2009 it is their first release with Fiction Records. The album charted in the UK at number 18 on 30 August. The first single lifted from the album, "Superhuman Touch", was released on 17 August 2009 while "The Getaway" is lifted as the first single in the US.^[8] "Black Swan Song" proceeded as the second single taken off the record and a UK release of "The Getaway". It was also speculated and mentioned by the band that "Light the Way" was intended for a single release, but was yielded due to the 'Singles:01-10' compilation release.

Joel Pott explained the album title: "We read an article about Nassim Nicholas Taleb and his book The Black Swan. He was saying that our lives are made up of a handful of significant shocks, good or bad. That's exactly how our journey has been over the last six years. We've had lots of unexpected highs and lows, as a band and as people." ^[9] Black Swan comes from a desire for "getting the songs across as much as we could".

The song "Don't Hold Your Breath" was featured in an episode of Ugly Betty called "Blue On Blue". "The Unknown" was used during the credits of the 2011 film "Soul Surfer".

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Superhuman Touch"	3:58
2.	"The Getaway"	4:32
3.	"Black Swan Song"	4:50
4.	"Don't Hold Your Breath"	4:34
5.	"Love Come Rescue"	2:53
6.	"Light the Way"	5:27
7.	"The Unknown"	4:44
8.	"The Awkward Goodbye"	3:59
9.	"Magical Mistakes"	4:43
10.	"Rubik's Cube"	4:31

Bonus CD (Deluxe Edition)
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Lucky as Hell"	0:45
2.	"Animations"	3:13
3.	"Wild Wolves"	3:02
4.	"Sky Diver"	3:39
5.	"Ordinary Angel"	3:49
6.	"Black Swan Song" (acoustic)	4:55
7.	"Needle on a Record"	2:40

Charts

Black Swan debuted at number 18 on the official UK albums chart.^[10]

Chart	Providers	Peak position	Certification
UK Albums Chart	BPI	18	-

References

1. http://www.metacritic.com/music/black-swan/critic-reviews
2. Leahey, Andrew. "Athlete: Black Swan > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
3. Dean, Will (14 August 2009). "Athlete: Black Swan". The Guardian (London). ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
4. Jacobs, Justin (2 March 2010). "Athlete: Black Swan". Paste (Decatur, GA: Wolfgang's Vault). ISSN 1540-3106. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
5. Elliott, Richard (3 March 2010). "Athlete: Black Swan". PopMatters. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
6. Keefe, Jonathan (8 March 2010). "Athlete: Black Swan". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
7. "New Stuff? Update on label situation?". forums.athlete.mu. Posted: Tue 19 May 2009 4:45 pm. Hello all I just thought I’d let you know the next album will be called ‘Black Swan’ it’s being mastered as we speak
8. Kremkau, Bryan (8 October 2009). "Athlete releasing The Getaway EP on November 3rd". readjunk.com. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
9. "Black Swan Song by Athlete". Songfacts.com. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
10. "Top 40 Official UK Albums Archive: 5th September 2009". TheOfficialCharts.com. Retrieved 13 October 2011.