''Blank Project'' is the fourth studio album by Neneh Cherry, released by

Smalltown Supersound Smalltown Supersound is an independent record label, founded in Flekkefjord in 1993 and now based in Oslo, Norway. It is dedicated to new forms of jazz, rock and electronic music. Their catalog features albums by Kelly Lee Owens, Deathprod, Ne ...

on 25 February 2014. The record is Cherry's first album of solo music in 18 years. It was recorded and mixed over a 5-day period in Woodstock, NY. It was produced by

Four Tet Kieran Hebden (born September 1977), known as Four Tet, is an English electronic musician. He came to prominence as a member of the post-rock band Fridge before establishing himself as a solo artist with charting UK albums such as '' Rounds'' ...

Kieran Hebden Kieran Hebden (born September 1977), known as Four Tet, is an English electronic musician. He came to prominence as a member of the post-rock band Fridge before establishing himself as a solo artist with charting UK albums such as '' Rounds'' ( ...

and features a guest appearance by

Robyn Robin Miriam Carlsson (born 12 June 1979), known as Robyn (), is a Swedish pop singer, songwriter, record producer, and DJ. She arrived on the music scene with her 1995 debut album, ''Robyn Is Here'', which produced two ''Billboard'' Hot 100 t ...

. The record also includes work with prior collaborators, synth/drum duo RocketNumberNine. Critical reviews of the album were very positive.

Description

Cherry wrote the material as a way to mourn for her mother, who died in 2009. The record is a departure from her previous work, consisting of a more sparse sound, with loose drums and a few synthesizers as the only accompaniment to her voice. RocketNumberNine provides industrial beats.

Critical reception

''Blank Project'' received widespread critical acclaim upon its release. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that 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 average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has 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 82, based on 36 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

calls the work "stark and urgent, almost entirely percussive. Her lyrics are less rebel treatises than koans or ruminations." '' Spin'' says it is "a stark, bracing, and emotionally vulnerable album that straddles the jazz, pop, and electronic worlds rather brilliantly." ''

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 ...

'' calls it "a bold and adventurous album". ''

The Arts Desk ''The Arts Desk'' (theartsdesk.com) is a British arts journalism website containing reviews, interviews, news, and other content related to music, theatre, television, films, and other art forms written by journalists from a variety of traditio ...

'' describes the record: "High on rhythms and percussion and low on conventional melodies, it certainly isn’t easy listening but is frequently bold and challenging, with harsh electronica providing the only accompaniment to Neneh’s warm vocals." '' The Skinny'' calls ''Blank Project'' a "triumph." ''

Electronic Beats Telekom Electronic Beats (TEB) is an international music marketing program of Deutsche Telekom AG focusing on electronic music and international club culture. The program was founded in 2000. It comprises a media portfolio and has been organizing ev ...

'' says: "''Blank Project'' is an upturned bag on a table, pouring out its contents for anyone to sort through: chewed up emotions, snotty little insecurities and the kind of anxiety that’ll etch red marks into the skin if you carry it around too long." In ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character t ...

'', Robert Christgau gave the album a one-star honorable mention, naming "Out of the Black" and "Spit Three Times" as highlights, while writing, "long-ago hipster-funk ingénue reclaims her avant-garde roots".

Track listing

Bonus tracks

Rough Trade

** CD version: Bonus CD ** LP version: Double LP with CD of album and bonus CD

Bonus CD

''The Blank Project - Bonus Remix Disc'' (available via Rough Trade Records and

Piccadilly Records Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brother ...

# "Everything" (Radio Edit) # "Out of the Black" (featuring Robyn) (Joe Goddard Extended Version) # "Everything" (Villalobos & Loderbauer: Vilod Low Blood Pressure Mix) # "Out of the Black" (featuring

) (Bouvet Remix)

Personnel

* Neneh Cherry - vocals *

- vocals on "Out of the Black" * RocketNumberNine - music * Producer –

Charts

References

External links

NenehCherry.com
(official site) {{Authority control 2014 albums Neneh Cherry albums Albums produced by Kieran Hebden Smalltown Supersound albums