''Earth'' is the ninth studio album from British

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

band Sault, one of five released for free via

digital distribution Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of digital media content (media), content such as Sound recording and reproductio ...

on 1 November 2022 (along with '' 11'', ''

AIIR ''AIIR'' is the eighth studio album from British funk music, funk band Sault (band), Sault, A sequel to their sixth album, ''Air (Sault album), AIR'', the album was one of five initially released for free via digital distribution on 1 Novemb ...

'', '' Today & Tomorrow'', and '' Untitled (God)''). The download was available for only five days via a password-encrypted link and made as an offering to God. Four of the five (excluding ''Untitled (God)'') were released on streaming music services on 12 November.

Critical reception

Writing for ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', Ali Shutler reviewed all five simultaneous releases by Sault and gave them a collective four out of five stars, noting that ''Earth'' "blends

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

with African drumbeats". In an overview of the best music of the week on ''

All Songs Considered ''All Songs Considered'' is a weekly online multimedia program started in January 2000 by NPR's ''All Things Considered'' director Bob Boilen. At first, the show featured information and streaming audio about the songs used as bumper music on '' ...

'',

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considers the five releases "as sonically diverse as they are ambitious in their breadth and scale". Damien Morris of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' reviewed all five albums and scored them five stars, noting that "anyone can find their own five-star classic among these 56 songs" and summing up that "it’s clear that these albums are an act of supreme generosity, not indulgent superfluity". Writing for ''

Gigwise ''Gigwise'' is a British online music news site that features music news, photos, album reviews, music festivals, concert tickets and video content. Founded in June 2001, the site is based in London, England. History Gigwise was launched in 2001 ...

'', Luke Winstanley called the collective releases "an absurd achievement" and scored this album nine out of 10 for balancing the band's "huge array of influences" and suggesting that "Stronger" may be the best song they have released.

Track listing

#"Spirit Call" – 1:36 #"The Lord's with Me" – 8:21 #"Valley of the Ocean" – 4:19 #"God Is in Control" – 4:51 #"Power" – 2:33 #"Stronger" – 3:56 #"Fields" – 6:14 #"Soul Inside My Beautiful Imagination" – 3:35 #"Warrior" – 3:49

Charts

''Earth'' debuted on the

UK Digital Albums The UK Album Downloads Chart is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) on behalf of the music industry. Since July 2015, the chart week runs from Friday to Thursday, with the chart date given as the following Thursday. The chart was introdu ...

chart from the

Official Charts Company The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. In the United Kingdom, its charts inc ...

at 23. The same week, ''11'' was 8, ''Untitled (God)'' showed up at 23, and ''Today & Tomorrow'' was 26.

Critical reception

Track listing

Charts

See also