''A Joyful Noise'' is the fifth and final studio album by American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Gossip Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others; the act is also known as dishing or tattling. Gossip is a topic of research in evolutionary psychology, which has found gossip to be an important means ...

, released on May 11, 2012, by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. The album was produced by

Xenomania Xenomania is an English songwriting and production team founded by Brian Higgins and based in Kent, England. Formed by Higgins with his Creative Director Miranda Cooper and Business Director Sarah Stennett of First Access Entertainment, Xenoman ...

founder

Brian Higgins Brian Michael Higgins (born October 6, 1959) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for , serving since 2005. The district, numbered as the 27th district from 2005 to 2013 but as the 26th since 2013, includes Buffalo and Ni ...

Critical reception

''A Joyful Noise'' received generally mixed reviews from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 60, based on 24 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average reviews". Andy Gill of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' gave the album four out of five stars, writing that "the involvement of Brian Higgins on ''A Joyful Noise'' enables the group to break new ground with confidence". ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''s Caroline Sullivan gave the album three out of five stars and stated that "it's

Girls Aloud Girls Aloud were an pop girl group that was created through the ITV talent show '' Popstars: The Rivals'' in 2002. The group comprised singers Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. The group achieved a str ...

producer Higgins to the rescue, with a sound influenced by

Abba ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's ...

and

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

. Having said that, Gossip—especially

Beth Ditto Mary Beth Patterson (born February 19, 1981), known by her stage name Beth Ditto, is an American singer and songwriter most notable for her work with the indie rock band Gossip. Her voice has been compared to Etta James, Janis Joplin and Tin ...

, in waspishly fine voice here—seem very much at home with it." However, Priya Elan of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' felt that " od moments are squandered by unsatisfying choruses and/or weak lyrics." ''The Independent on Sunday''s Simon Price expressed that after a few years of career, Ditto "already feels like a footnote", adding that the band pairing up with Higgins "should be a stroke of genius, but Higgins has caught Ditto & co at a point where they appear to have disastrously lost their fire."

Commercial performance

''A Joyful Noise'' debuted at number 100 on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 5,000 copies in its first week. In Europe, the album debuted at number 47 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

with first-week sales of 2,822 copies, while reaching number one in Switzerland, number two in Germany, number three in France, number four in Austria and number eight in Belgium.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''A Joyful Noise''.

Gossip

– vocals *

Hannah Blilie Hannah Blilie is the drummer of the American R&B band Chanti Darling and formerly Gossip and Shoplifting. She has also performed with Sarah Dougher, Chromatics, Stiletto, Mr Yuk, The Lumpies, Vade, The Vogue, and Soiled Doves. Her twin broth ...

– drums, percussion * Nathan Howdeshell – live bass, guitars, keyboards, programming

Additional musicians

* Jeremy Sherrer – additional percussion *

– additional programming ; additional composition * Luke Fitton – additional programming * Owen Parker – additional programming * Toby Scott – additional programming ; additional composition * Matt Gray – additional programming * Joshua Jenkin – additional programming * Sam Martin – additional programming *

Jerry Bouthier Jérôme Léonard "Jerry" Bouthier is a French DJ, also producer and songwriter of electronic dance music, house, electro. Born in Marseille, originally from Paris and based in London, he produces sound-design for fashion shows and brands, record ...

– additional programming * Andrea Gorgerino – additional programming *

Fred Falke Frédérick Falke () (born 7 January 1973), known professionally as Fred Falke, is a French house and dance music producer and DJ. Biography Falke started out as a bass player before moving to production work. His first record, a collaboratio ...

– additional programming ; additional composition * Jason Resch – additional programming ; additional composition * Kieran Jones – additional programming ; additional composition

Technical

* Brian Higgins – production ; mixing *

– additional production * Toby Scott – special production assistance, engineering ; mixing * Jeremy Sherrer – engineering * Ben Taylor – recording engineering assistance * Matt Gray – mixing *

Rich Costey Rich may refer to: Common uses * Rich, an entity possessing wealth * Rich, an intense flavor, color, sound, texture, or feeling ** Rich (wine), a descriptor in wine tasting Places United States * Rich, Mississippi, an unincorporated commun ...

– mixing * Chris Kasych – logic engineering * Serban Ghenea – mixing * John Hanes – engineering for mix * Phil Seaford – engineering assistance * Tom Coyne – mastering

Artwork

* Rankin – photography * Mike Larremore – additional photography * Jeri Lynn – art direction

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joyful Noise, A 2012 albums Columbia Records albums Gossip (band) albums