A Thing Called Divine Fits
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''A Thing Called Divine Fits'' is the only
studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by American–Canadian
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
Divine Fits Divine Fits was an American-Canadian indie rock band composed of Britt Daniel (Spoon), Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, Operators), Sam Brown, and Alex Fischel (Spoon). The group released their debut album, '' A Thing Called Divine Fit ...
. The album was recorded in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
in a backyard studio with producer
Nick Launay Nicolas Launay is an English record producer, composer and recording engineer. He is one of the most sought after record producers in the world due to his success with recent albums by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Anna Calvi, IDLES, Black Re ...
between March and May 2012. It was released on August 27, 2012 in Europe and August 28, 2012 in North America on
Merge Records Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as an outlet for music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expande ...
. The first single, "My Love Is Real", was released on July 31, 2012.


Background

Britt Daniel John Britt Daniel (born April 14, 1971) is an American musician. He is the co-founder, lead singer and guitarist of the rock band Spoon, as well as the co-founder, guitarist, bassist, and singer of the band Divine Fits. Daniel also founded nume ...
, lead singer and guitarist of
Spoon A spoon is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl (also known as a head), oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery (sometimes called flatware in the United States), especially as part of a place setting, it is used primarily f ...
, met
Dan Boeckner Dan Boeckner (; born 5 February 1978) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, guitarist and podcaster. He is best known as one of the frontmen of Wolf Parade, which he helped found in 2003. Since 2013, he has also been a member of the Montreal-based ba ...
of
Wolf Parade Wolf Parade is a Canadian indie rock band formed in 2003 in Montreal. The band released three full-length albums before taking a five-year hiatus in 2011. They announced their return in 2016, releasing a self-titled EP in May of that year, and a ...
and
Handsome Furs Handsome Furs was a Montreal-based indie rock duo which consisted of Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry, who were married at the time. Boeckner is best known for his time in the bands Wolf Parade and Atlas Strategic. The band announced its breakup on M ...
at a Handsome Furs concert in 2007. They kept in touch, and later, Spoon and Handsome Furs played shows together. Spoon later played
Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplac ...
, and invited Boeckner onstage with them. Sam Brown, drummer of
New Bomb Turks The New Bomb Turks are an American punk rock band formed at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, United States, in 1990. The founding members are Jim Weber, Eric Davidson, Bill Randt, and Matt Reber. Sam Brown replaced Bill Randt on drums ...
, was recommended by producer
Mike McCarthy Michael John McCarthy (born November 10, 1963) is an American football coach who is the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). From 2006 to 2018, he was the head coach of the Green Bay Packers. In 2011, he led t ...
, who had previously worked with Daniel. Daniel had written the track "What Gets You Alone" and sent it to Boeckner in February 2011, who recorded vocals over top of it, and decided to go to California the following year, along with Sam Brown to form the band. Alex Fischel met Boeckner opening up for Handsome Furs with the band PAPA. Boeckner later got in touch with Fischel and asked him to join Divine Fits, adding
keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...
to the mix. The vocals are roughly shared between Daniel and Boeckner.


Critical reception

''A Thing Called Divine Fits'' was generally well received by critics, with aggregate rating site
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 ...
assigning it a score of 77 out of 100 based on 30 reviews. Josh Modell of '' Spin'' described it as "something fresh from the " supergroup that they hadn't done with their respective groups before" and wrote that the band "is flirting with the coolest music 1982 had to offer," though that they have more potential than what that the album showed. Mary Chang of ''
DIY "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...
'' called the album's cohesiveness "astonishing" considering that the band had only formed some months prior to its release. Other critics spoke positively of Daniel and Boeckner, noting that their songwriting fit together naturally. ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
s Jon Dolan described their partnership as a "genuine synthesis", while Harley Brown of ''
Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...
'' wrote that "it might be the most fortuitous musical pairing in recent history." ''A Thing Called Divine Fits'' was listed at number 23 on ''Rolling Stone''s list of the top 50 albums of 2012, with the publication praising Divine Fits as "the super-group that is more than the sum of its promising parts."


Track listing


Charts


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thing Called Divine Fits 2012 debut albums Divine Fits albums Albums produced by Nick Launay