Sound & Color

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Sound & Color
Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color album cover.jpg
Studio album by
Alabama Shakes
ReleasedApril 17, 2015 (2015-04-17)[1]
Genre
Length47:26
Label
Producer
Alabama Shakes chronology
Boys & Girls
(2012) 		Sound & Color
(2015)
Singles from Sound & Color
  1. "Don't Wanna Fight"
    Released: February 10, 2015[3]
  2. "Gimme All Your Love"
    Released: February 2015
  3. "Future People"
    Released: March 19, 2015[4]
  4. "Sound & Color"
    Released: September 21, 2015

Sound & Color is the second and final studio album by American rock band Alabama Shakes. It was released on April 17, 2015 via ATO Records, MapleMusic Recordings and Rough Trade Records.[5]

Sound & Color debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in the U.S., giving the band their first chart-topper; globally, the album hit the top ten in Australia, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The album was also a critical success and was nominated six Grammy Awards, winning four for Best Alternative Music Album, Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, as well as Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song for "Don't Wanna Fight". It spawned four singles; "Don't Wanna Fight" was the most successful, peaking at number two on Billboard's Adult Alternative Songs chart.

Background[]

Alabama Shakes began recording their second album in late 2013. The group listened to anything and everything for influence, without regard for its public reception in the end.[6] They spent over a year in the studio, with no clear end-goal, as they had not written any new songs due to their exhaustive touring schedule.[6] Sound & Color is steeped in several different genres, touching on shoegaze to bands such as MC5.[7]

In promotion of Sound & Color, the group appeared on Saturday Night Live on February 28, 2015; they performed the singles "Gimme All Your Love" and "Don't Wanna Fight".[8]

The title song, "Sound & Color" was used in the final episode of the first season of Mr. Robot.

In 2017, the song "This Feeling" was used in the first season of the HBO miniseries Big Little Lies, and in 2019, it was used in the end scene of the final episode of the British TV show Fleabag. The song "Sound & Color" was used in the end credits of the 2019 film Waves, directed by Trey Edward Shults and produced by A24. "Don't Wanna Fight" was used in the 2019 film Just Mercy.

Composition[]

"A genuine Americana love letter",[9] Sound & Color is rooted in Southern rock[10][11] and soul music.[12][13] It has also been noted for making "roots-rock a surprise again".[14] Yet despite being rooted in these genres, Sound & Color includes some of the quartet's most eclectic and experimental songs to date. It features influences of country,[9] blues,[15] funk,[15] garage punk,[9][16] punk rock,[14][17] and swamp rock.[18] Its songs have been compared to musicians like Erykah Badu and Curtis Mayfield and bands like MC5 and the Strokes.[13]

The "engrossing" "Guess Who" explores jazz sounds.[12] The "ballistic" "The Greatest" takes on cowpunk like that of the Meat Puppets,[19] as well as hardcore punk,[20] new wave,[21] proto-punk,[22] and "no-frills" rock and roll.[18] A "fun little bash" is made out of the fusion of grunge and funk on "Shoegaze".[23] Both songs have also been noted as garage rock.[9]

Sound & Color digs its heels into more psychedelia-based stylings,[15][16][24][25] from the "slow-burning" space rock[26] of "Dunes" to the "celestial" psychedelic funk[18] of "Future People". "Gemini", the record's longest song, changes between "smooth R&B and stoner-desert rock"[27] while journeying into "zero-gravity" funk.[13]

Commercial performance[]

The album debuted atop the US Billboard 200 chart, earning 97,000 album-equivalent units (91,000 copies of traditional album sales) in its first week, in the week ending April 26, 2015, making it the band's first number one album.[28] The album has sold 306,000 copies in the US as of December 2015.[29]

Critical reception[]

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.8/10[30]
Metacritic80/100[31]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic4/5 stars[24]
Chicago Tribune3/4 stars[32]
The Daily Telegraph5/5 stars[33]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[26]
The Guardian3/5 stars[20]
The Independent4/5 stars[21]
NME8/10[22]
Pitchfork8.1/10[13]
Rolling Stone3.5/5 stars[25]
Spin7/10[14]

Upon its release, Sound & Color received positive reviews. At the review aggregator Metacritic, the album currently holds a score of 80 based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[31] Writing for Exclaim!, Andrea Warner called the record a "deliberately weird record, but authentically weird; it's chaotic yet cohesive, full of sound, colour and unshakable vision."[34] Barry Nicholson of NME compared it favorably to the band's first album, writing, "whereas their debut was cast in sepia hues and downhome earthiness, its follow-up is a more kaleidoscopic affair."[22]

Accolades[]

Sound & Color garnered six nominations at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards; it was nominated for the Album of the Year, marking the group's first nomination in the category. The album was also nominated for Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical (Blake Mills), and won Best Alternative Music Album, Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical (Shawn Everett and Bob Ludwig). "Don't Wanna Fight" won for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song.[35]

Country Publication List Rank
US Billboard[36] 25 Best Albums of 2015
7
US Complex[37] The Best Albums of 2015
29
US Consequence of Sound[38] Top 50 Albums of 2015
36
US Entertainment Weekly[39] The 40 Best Albums of 2015
13
US Pitchfork[40] Top 200 Best Albums of the 2010s
138
US Rolling Stone[41] The 50 Best Albums of 2015
37
US Rough Trade[42] Albums of the Year 2015
31
US The New York Times[43] The Best Albums of 2015 (by Jon Pareles)
7

* denotes an unordered list

Track listing[]

All lyrics are written by Brittany Howard, with help from Blake Mills on "Future People", "Guess Who" and "Gemini." All music written by Alabama Shakes[44].

No.TitleLength
1."Sound & Color"3:02
2."Don't Wanna Fight"3:53
3."Dunes"4:18
4."Future People"3:22
5."Gimme All Your Love"4:03
6."This Feeling"4:29
7."Guess Who"3:16
8."The Greatest"3:50
9."Shoegaze"2:59
10."Miss You"3:47
11."Gemini"6:36
12."Over My Head"3:51
Total length:47:26
iTunes Japan bonus track version[45]
No.TitleLength
13."Drive By Baby"2:20
14."Joe"4:00
International bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
13."Joe"4:00
14."Makin' Me Itch" 
Target exclusive bonus CD
No.TitleLength
1."Gimme All Your Love" (live from the Artists Den)4:13
2."The Greatest" (live from the Artists Den)3:19
3."Joe" (live from the Artists Den)3:35

Personnel[]

Credits adapted from Sound & Color liner notes.[46]

Alabama Shakes

  • Brittany Howard − vocals (all), guitar (2–12), vibraphone (1, 7, 11), percussion (4, 6, 12), keyboards (11, 12)
  • Heath Fogg − guitar (all), percussion (6, 12)
  • Zac Cockrell − bass (all), percussion (6, 7, 12)
  • Steve Johnson − drums (all), percussion (2, 3, 4, 6, 12)

Additional musicians

  • Ben Tanner − keyboards (1, 3-12), vibraphone (1), percussion (12)
  • Paul Horton − keyboards (11)
  • Rob Moose − string arrangements (1, 3, 6, 7)

Production

Charts[]

Certifications[]

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[76] Gold 40,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[77] Silver 60,000double-dagger
United States (RIAA)[78] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
double-dagger Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References[]

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  78. ^ "American album certifications – Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color". Recording Industry Association of America.

External links[]

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