''Despite Yourself'' is the second and final studio album by the English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Headswim Headswim are an English alternative rock band active during the 1990s, best known for their 1997 single "Tourniquet". Band members subsequently went on to projects including BlackCar, Tenebrous Liar and Mew. History The band originally forme ...

. The album was released by Epic Records on 2 September 1997 in the US, and on 18 May 1998 in the UK and the rest of Europe, and spawned two singles for the band, "Tourniquet" and "Better Made". The album's musical style showed a marked change from the hard rock/ grunge of the band's earlier work towards a more personal,

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...

sound (partly influenced by the death of the Glendinings' brother Matthew from

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in 1994), which drew comparisons to Radiohead. Although the album reached number 24 in 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 ...

and the first single "Tourniquet" made the top 30 of the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, ''Despite Yourself'' did not sell as well as hoped and Epic dropped the band soon after its release.

Critical reception

The album received mixed views from the music press. '' Q'' observed that "the marriage of paradoxically exhilarating examinations of despair and self-doubt to open-ended stadia rock recalls Radiohead".

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

also noted the similarities to Radiohead but stated that the album "fortunately boasts enough strong individual material to prevent the record from being a mere acknowledgement of trendy influences... Too derivative for lofty praise or emphatic recommendation, ''Despite Yourself'' is an exquisite exercise in catharsis and musical tribute nonetheless." ''

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 ...

'' was positive, calling ''Despite Yourself'' "a mighty album; a record that drags you under with its spectacularly gloomy sentiments of self-loathing and utter despair only to redress the balance with swathes of dynamic guitar bruising and seductive studio inventiveness". The review noted that while the record displayed more musical variety than the debut album, "at heart, however, Headswim are still a battle-weary rock band. It's just this time they're tackling life's obstacles with reaffirmed vigour and some nifty production. British rock has never sounded so (un)healthy." Ben Myers of '' Melody Maker'' was less impressed, stating, "What the Essex four-piece do is almost bland beyond belief ... It's a place where anthemic choruses are lavished with occasionally naff lyrics and very occasional hints of greatness." ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' praised the album's lead single but went on to say, "''Despite Yourself'' doesn't contain any tracks as refreshing as 'Tourniquet', but remains a credible record".

Track listing

Personnel

Headswim *Daniel Glendining – vocals, guitar *Tom Glendining – drums *Clovis Taylor – bass *Nick Watts – keyboards, cello Additional musicians *Catherine Browning – violin *Ian Burdge – cello *Matthew Taylor – violin *Rebecca Ware – viola *Cheryl Enever – cello *Michael Gray – violin *Vincent Greene – viola *Adrian Smith – violin Technical personnel *

Steve Osborne Stephen John "Steve" Osborne (born 1963) is a British record producer, living in Bath, England. He has worked with a wide variety of musicians, including Suede, the B-52s, A-ha, New Order, Elbow, U2, Happy Mondays, Placebo, Gregory Porter, Do ...

– producer, mixer *Adrian Bushby – recording and mix engineer *

Stylorouge Stylorouge is a graphic design studio based in Yalding, Kent, formed in London by creative director Rob O'Connor in 1981. Art work created by the studio has included record sleeve designs for bands such as Siouxsie and the Banshees for their 1981' ...

– sleeve design *Chris Floyd – photography

References

{{Authority control 1997 albums Albums produced by Steve Osborne Epic Records albums Headswim albums