''Bronson'' (stylised in
all caps
In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in l ...
) is the
eponym
An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''.
Usage of the word
The term ''epon ...
ous debut studio album by
Bronson, the collaborative project of American DJs
Odesza
Odesza (; stylized as ODESZA) is an American electronic music duo originating from Bellingham, Washington. It consists of Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight, known individually as Catacombkid and BeachesBeaches. They formed in 2012, shortly bef ...
and Australian producer
Golden Features
Thomas George Stell (born 1991), known professionally as Golden Features, is an Australian deep house / dance DJ and producer currently signed to Warner Bros. Records. Three singles, "Tell Me" featuring Nicole Millar, "No One" featuring Thelm ...
.
It was released on 7 August 2020, delayed from an initial 17 July release.
The album debuted and peaked at number 22 on the
ARIA Albums Chart
The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...
in Australia on 17 August 2020 and at number 5 on the US
Top Dance/Electronic Albums Chart on 22 August 2020.
Background
The album follows
Golden Features
Thomas George Stell (born 1991), known professionally as Golden Features, is an Australian deep house / dance DJ and producer currently signed to Warner Bros. Records. Three singles, "Tell Me" featuring Nicole Millar, "No One" featuring Thelm ...
' 2019 collaborative EP ''Raka'' with
The Presets
The Presets are an Australian electronic music duo of Julian Hamilton (vocals, keyboards) and Kim Moyes (drums, keyboards). Formed in 2003 and signed to Modular Records, The Presets released two EPs ('' Blow Up'', '' Girl and the Sea'') in a ...
and
Odesza
Odesza (; stylized as ODESZA) is an American electronic music duo originating from Bellingham, Washington. It consists of Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight, known individually as Catacombkid and BeachesBeaches. They formed in 2012, shortly bef ...
's
Grammy nominated 2017 album ''
A Moment Apart
''A Moment Apart'' is the third studio album by the American electronic music duo Odesza, released on 8 September 2017 through Counter, Ninja Tune and the duo's own label, Foreign Family Collective. It is the duo's first album in three years a ...
''.
Golden Features previously remixed Odesza's song "Falls" in October 2018.
Odesza
Odesza (; stylized as ODESZA) is an American electronic music duo originating from Bellingham, Washington. It consists of Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight, known individually as Catacombkid and BeachesBeaches. They formed in 2012, shortly bef ...
members Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight bonded with
Thomas Stell over a mutual admiration of each other's music, sending demos to one another over
Dropbox
Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by the American company Dropbox, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, U.S. that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and client software. Dropbox was founded in 2007 ...
.
After multiple
studio sessions over
FaceTime
FaceTime is a proprietary videotelephony product developed by Apple Inc. FaceTime is available on supported iOS mobile devices running iOS 4 and later and Mac computers that run and later. FaceTime supports any iOS device with a forward-faci ...
,
they eventually met up in order to record together, which led to the creation of the album.
Release and promotion
The album was announced on 27 April via
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
,
with Odesza posting on their account:
"Just finished an entire album with Golden Features."
Thomas Stell additionally posted:
"Let me introduce you to BRONSON. A full album from myself and my brothers ODESZA coming soon."
The album was originally scheduled to release on 17 July 2020,
but was delayed to 7 August.
Singles
Four singles were released from the album: "
Heart Attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
" (featuring
lau.ra) and "Vaults" on 28 April 2020,
"Dawn" (featuring
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
Orlando Tobias Edward Higginbottom (born 7 March 1986), known professionally as Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (or TEED), is a British electronic music producer, DJ and singer-songwriter based in the United States.
Early life
Orlando is ...
) on 30 June 2020,
and "Keep Moving" on 21 July 2020.
Recording
''Bronson'' was produced by Harrison Mills, Clayton Knight, and Thomas Stell.
Recording on the album began in 2018, in
Berry,
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
,
and was finalised in 2020.
Composition
''Bronson'' is primarily a
house,
electro,
and
EDM
EDM or E-DM may refer to:
Music
* Electronic dance music
* Early Day Miners, American band
Science and technology
* Electric dipole moment
* Electrical discharge machining
* Electronic distance measurement
*Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...
album.
Themes
In a statement regarding the album's
themes, Bronson stated the record is about:
" heirrespective needs to challenge personal struggles, both internal and external. Moreover, the trio recognized that their own battles were merely microcosms of the surrounding world. The hope was to craft a body of work that was reflective of that duality of lightness and darkness inherent to the human condition.
Artwork
The
cover artwork depicts a man holding his head in his hands, with the letters "Bro" and "Nson" written in
capital letters on his left and right
hands, respectively.
The album title is displayed in white text at the bottom of the image.
Critical reception
Ross Goldenberg of ''
Dancing Astronaut
Dancing Astronaut is an American media platform founded in 2009 that primarily covers the electronic dance music industry. The website covers concerts and festivals, reports on entertainment news, reviews music, and publishes original content sy ...
'' stated: "With all tracks seamlessly transitioning into one another, ''Bronson'' maintains a balanced pool of lighter additions."
He additionally described the album as "a promising first chapter".
Sophie Bress, also of ''Dancing Astronaut'', called the album "a maze of sound, brimming with contradictions. It is expected but not predictable, surprising but not shocking, sonically diverse but not disjointed."
Bress also noted the album "brings together their distinct styles", describing the result as a "multitudinous and emotive musical collection that defies classification".
Allie Gregory of ''
Exclaim!'' praised the album as "a wholesome, heartfelt approach to electronic dance music that appeals to emotion before aesthetics."
Gregory also stated she "hope
to hear from
hem
A hem in sewing is a garment finishing method, where the edge of a piece of cloth is folded and sewn to prevent unravelling of the fabric and to adjust the length of the piece in garments, such as at the end of the sleeve or the bottom of the g ...
again in the future."
Ryan Middleton of ''Magnetic Magazine'' described the album as "tough and gritty" and praised its "intricate melodies".
Middleton also favourably compared the track "Tense" to
Gesaffelstein
Mike Lévy (; born 24 June 1987), known professionally as Gesaffelstein (), is a French music programmer, DJ, songwriter and record producer from Lyon. He has worked alongside artists such as The Weeknd, Daft Punk, Kanye West, A$AP Rocky, Elect ...
's production work.
Commercial performance
In Australia, ''Bronson'' debuted and peaked at number 22 on the
ARIA Albums Chart
The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...
for the chart dated 17 August 2020,
before falling into the lower fifty the following week.
In the United States, the album debuted and peaked at number 5 on ''
Billboard''s
Top Dance/Electronic Albums Chart,
before exiting the chart a week later.
Track listing
All tracks were written by all members of
Bronson, with the exception of featured artists. All tracks produced by Bronson.
Notes
* All track titles are stylised in
all caps
In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in l ...
.
* "Blackout"
was the original title for "Keep Moving", but was changed in the final tracklist.
Personnel
Adapted from the album's
liner notes
Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes.
Origin
Liner notes are desc ...
.
Bronson
*
Harrison Mills –
producer
*
Clayton Knight – producer
*
Thomas Stell – producer
Other musicians
*
Laura Bettinson
Laura Bettinson (born 20 September 1987), also known by her stage names FEMME and lau.ra, is an English singer, songwriter, producer and DJ. She started writing music at 16, gigging around the Midlands area before moving to London to study Bmus ...
– vocals
*
Christopher Joseph Gallant III – vocals
*
Orlando Tobias Edward Higginbottom – vocals
Charts
Year-end charts
Release history
References
{{Authority control
2020 debut albums
Bronson (group) albums
Electro albums by Australian artists
Electro albums by American artists
House music albums by Australian artists
House music albums by American artists