''Crab Day'' is the fourth studio album by Welsh musician

Cate Le Bon Cate Le Bon (born Cate Timothy on 4 March 1983) is a Welsh musician and record producer. She sings in both English and Welsh. She has released six solo studio albums, three EPs and a number of singles. Le Bon has toured with artists such as St. ...

, released on 15 April 2016 by Drag City, Turnstile Music, and

Caroline International Caroline may refer to: People *Caroline (given name), a feminine given name * J. C. Caroline (born 1933), American college and National Football League player * Jordan Caroline (born 1996), American (men's) basketball player Places Antarctica * ...

. It was produced by

Josiah Steinbrick Josiah Steinbrick (born July 13, 1981) is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and record producer, currently based in Los Angeles, California, United States. Aside from his own solo works and performances with his BANANA ensemble, he ha ...

and

Noah Georgeson Noah Georgeson is an American musician, producer, engineer, mixer and solo recording artist. Georgeson's debut album '' Find Shelter'' was released through Plain Recordings on November 28, 2006. Early life and education Born in San Anselmo, ...

and recorded at Panoramic House, a hilltop mansion in the coastal town of Stinson Beach,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The artist

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...

created a short film set in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

to coincide with the release.

Recording

After the experience working with American musician Tim Presley as DRINKS, Le Bon changed her working method. She created short demos and used different instruments. Lyrics were written after the music had been completed. She described the process as "the songs were mapped out in my head and I had vocal melodies, just not lyrics". When the songs had been developed, they were rehearsed over five days together with Stephen Black (bass),

H. Hawkline Huw Evans (born 15 March 1985), also known as H. Hawkline, is a Welsh singer-songwriter and radio and television presenter based in Cardiff. He also lived and worked in Los Angeles for several years. He performs in both English and Welsh languag ...

(guitar) and

Stella Mozgawa Stella Mozgawa is an Australian drummer, best known as a member of the indie rock band Warpaint, with whom she has recorded four studio albums. Alongside her work with Warpaint, Mozgawa has contributed to recordings by musicians Kurt Vile, Ada ...

(drums). Upon entering the studio, recording was completed over five days after which Le Bon completed her vocals and overdubs. It was followed by the process of selecting the songs and running order for the album.

Critical reception

''Crab Day'' received positive reviews from contemporary 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 critics, 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 75, based on 21 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Laura Snapes of

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

gave the album a favorable review, stating, "''Crab Day'' is a voyage into doubt led by a queasy compass, and a ringleader who's prepared to stake out uncertain territory. Le Bon always keeps you guessing, making the old traditions of guitar-oriented rock feel arbitrary, too. Her nervy assessments of the world are filled with equal parts suspense and heart, and beautifully zany riffs, where the feeling of being frayed by uncertainty comes together into a strangely comforting patchwork."

Accolade

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Crab Day''. Musicians *

– guitar, piano , percussion , synthesizer , marimba *

– bass , piano , percussion * Stephen Black – bass , clarinet , saxophone *

– guitar , marimba , synthesizer *

– drums Production and artwork *

– production *

– production, mixing * Samur Khouja – engineering * JJ Golden – mastering * Isabel Vollrath – kimono jacket * Christian Fritzenwanker – make up * Ivana Klickovic – cover photography, insert photography *

– sleeve

References

External links

* {{Authority control Cate Le Bon albums 2016 albums Drag City (record label) albums Albums produced by Noah Georgeson Albums produced by Josiah Steinbrick