If You Wait

If You Wait
Studio album by London Grammar
Released	6 September 2013
Recorded	2012–13
Studio	State of the Ark Studios (Richmond, London) Sofa Sound Studios (London) Smecky Music Studios (Prague)
Genre	Electronica[1] dream pop downtempo[2] pop[3]
Length	43:22
Label	Metal & Dust Ministry of Sound
Producer	Tim Bran Roy Kerr London Grammar
London Grammar chronology
Metal & Dust (2013) If You Wait (2013)
Singles from If You Wait
"Metal & Dust" Released: 25 February 2013 "Wasting My Young Years" Released: 16 June 2013 "Strong" Released: 1 September 2013 "Nightcall" Released: 8 December 2013 "Hey Now" Released: 16 March 2014 "Sights" Released: 1 June 2014[4] "If You Wait" Released: 12 October 2014[5]

If You Wait is the debut studio album by English indie pop band London Grammar, released on 6 September 2013 by Metal & Dust Recordings and Ministry of Sound. Seven singles have been released from the album: "Metal & Dust", "Wasting My Young Years", "Strong", "Nightcall", "Hey Now", "Sights" and "If You Wait". The album debuted at number two the UK Albums Chart with first-week sales of 33,130 copies.

Background

After the band signed with Ministry of Sound and Big Life Management they began the first sessions of the album in early 2012 with Cam Blackwood. Later that year he was replaced by Tim Bran and Roy Kerr. Hannah Reid described the collaboration as 'Tim is amazing at recording, of finding the best way of recording a guitar or my vocal. Roy had the strongest relationship with Dot and they worked on production together'.^[6]

The album's lyrics are mainly based upon vocalist Hannah Reid's personal life, in particular her troubled teenage years,^[7] prompting The Guardian to suggest that this was "the first quarter-life-crisis album."^[7]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	75/100[8]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[9]
Clash	8/10[10]
Consequence of Sound	[11]
Drowned in Sound	9/10[3]
The Independent	[12]
musicOMH	[13]
NME	7/10[14]
The Observer	[15]
Pitchfork	7.1[16]
PopMatters	9/10[17]
This Is Fake DIY	7/10[18]

If You Wait received positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 75, based on 19 reviews.^[8]

Andy Gill of The Independent summarised the album's production and instrumentation as "all beautifully sketched to evoke the crepuscular intimacies of the songs."^[12]

A large quantity of praise went to the vocal ability of Reid, whose husky contralto vocals have been described as "defining and soulful" by Clash magazine^[10] and "emotive" and "folky" by Drowned in Sound.^[3] Her voice has been compared to artists like Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine,^[19] Annie Lennox,^[20],^[12] and Julee Cruise.^[12] Benji Taylor of Pretty Much Amazing wrote a favourable review of the album, calling it "an enthralling, stunning, deeply emotive album that perfectly marries understated electronica to sublime vocals and melodies." Vocalist Hannah Reid's voice was particularly praised: "underscored by an enduring brittle beauty and an underlying otherworldliness, as if she honed her craft singing amidst the gardens of Lothlorien, or some far-flung corner of Westeros."^[1]

Commercial performance

If You Wait entered the UK Albums Chart at number two, selling 33,130 copies in its first week.^[21] In the United States, the album debuted at number ninety-one on the Billboard 200 with 4,000 copies sold.^[22]

Track listing

All songs produced by Tim Bran, Roy Kerr and London Grammar, except where noted.

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Hey Now"	Hannah Reid	Reid Daniel Rothman Dot Major	3:27
2.	"Stay Awake"	Reid	Reid Rothman Major	3:05
3.	"Shyer"	Reid	Reid Rothman Major Joel Pott	3:07
4.	"Wasting My Young Years"	Reid	Reid	3:24
5.	"Sights"	Reid	Reid Rothman Major	4:13
6.	"Strong"	Reid	Reid Rothman Major	4:35
7.	"Nightcall"	Vincent Belorgey Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo	Belorgey Homem-Christo	4:30
8.	"Metal & Dust"	Reid	Reid Rothman Major	3:28
9.	"Interlude" (Live)	Reid	Reid	4:04
10.	"Flickers"	Reid Rothman	Reid Rothman Major	4:45
11.	"If You Wait"	Reid	Reid	4:44
Total length:				43:22

US edition bonus tracks[23][24]
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Producer(s)	Length
12.	"High Life"	Reid	Reid Rothman Major		4:03
13.	"Maybe"	Reid	Reid Rothman Major		4:23
14.	"Strong" (US radio edit)	Reid	Reid Rothman Major	Bran Kerr London Grammar Emile Haynie^[a]	4:10
Total length:					55:58

Japanese edition bonus tracks[25]
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Producer(s)	Length
12.	"Help"	Reid	Reid Rothman Major		3:53
13.	"Darling Are You Gonna Leave Me"	Reid	Reid Rothman Major	Bran Kerr	3:02
14.	"High Life"	Reid	Reid Rothman Major		4:03
15.	"Maybe"	Reid	Reid Rothman Major		4:23
16.	"When We Were Young"	Reid	Reid Rothman Major		3:06
17.	"Feelings"				3:46
18.	"Everywhere You Go"				3:42
Total length:					69:17

Deluxe edition and French collector's edition bonus disc[26][27]
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Help"	Reid	Reid Rothman Major		3:53
2.	"Darling Are You Gonna Leave Me"	Reid	Reid Rothman Major	Bran Kerr	3:02
3.	"Help Me Lose My Mind" (Disclosure featuring London Grammar)	Reid	Guy Lawrence Howard Lawrence Reid	Disclosure	4:06
4.	"High Life"	Reid	Reid Rothman Major		4:03
5.	"Maybe"	Reid	Reid Rothman Major		4:23
6.	"When We Were Young"	Reid	Reid Rothman Major		3:06
Total length:					22:33

Notes

• ^{^a} signifies a co-producer

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of If You Wait.^[28]

London Grammar – production Tim Bran – additional programming, production (all tracks); additional keyboards (tracks 4, 7) City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra – strings Tom Coyne – mastering Kevin 'KD' Davis – mixing James Fitzpatrick – orchestra contracting Manon Grandjean – engineering Jan Holzner – string recording Markus Karlsson – art direction

Roy Kerr – additional programming, production Lee Kirby – photography Mat Maitland – art direction Wil Malone – string arrangements, string conducting (tracks 4, 5, 8, 11) Dipesh Parmar – A&R Ben Siegal – engineering (tracks 3, 8, 10, 11); piano recording, vocal recording (track 11) Tony Stanton – strings preparation

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2013–15) Peak position Australian Albums Chart[29] 2 Austrian Albums Chart[30] 73 Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[31] 7 Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[32] 3 Danish Albums Chart[33] 24 Dutch Albums Chart[34] 11 French Albums Chart[35] 6 German Albums Chart[36] 34 Greek Albums Chart[37] 25 Irish Albums Chart[38] 9 Irish Independent Albums Chart[39] 1 Italian Albums Chart[40] 93 New Zealand Albums Chart[41] 13 Norwegian Albums Chart[42] 29 Scottish Albums Chart[43] 2 Swiss Albums Chart[44] 8 UK Albums Chart[45] 2 UK Indie Albums Chart[46] 1 US Billboard 200[47] 91

Year-end charts Chart (2013) Position Australian Albums Chart[48] 87 Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[49] 182 UK Albums Chart[50] 33 Chart (2014) Position Australian Albums Chart[51] 23 Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[52] 9 Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[53] 9 Dutch Albums Chart[54] 55 French Albums Chart[55] 21 Swiss Albums Chart[56] 27 UK Albums Chart[57] 17 Chart (2015) Position Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[58] 48

Certifications

Region	Certification	Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)[59]	Platinum	70,000^^
Belgium (BEA)[60]	Platinum	30,000^*
United Kingdom (BPI)[61]	Platinum	300,000^^
^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Edition	Label	Ref.
Australia	6 September 2013	CD digital download	Standard deluxe	Dew Process	[62][63][64][65]
		LP	Standard		[66]
France	9 September 2013	CD		Because	[67]
United Kingdom		CD digital download	Standard deluxe	Metal & Dust Ministry of Sound	[68][69][70][71]
		LP	Standard		[72]
United States	10 September 2013	Digital download		Columbia	[73]
Germany	11 October 2013		Deluxe	Polydor Island	[74]
	15 November 2013	CD	Standard deluxe	Island	[75][76]
United States	25 March 2014		US standard	Columbia	[77]
		Digital download	US deluxe		[24]
	1 April 2014	LP	US standard		[78]
France	28 April 2014	LP + CD	Standard (LP) deluxe (CD)	Because	[79]
Japan	18 June 2014	CD digital download	Japan standard	Universal	[25][80]
France	24 November 2014	CD	Collector's	Because	[27]

References

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