''Fix Yourself, Not the World'' is the fifth studio album by 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

the Wombats The Wombats are an English indie rock band formed in Liverpool in 2003, consisting of Matthew Murphy (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Tord Øverland Knudsen (bass, backing vocals, keyboards), and Dan Haggis (drums, backing vocals, keyboards). ...

, released on 14 January 2022. It was preceded by the singles "Method to the Madness", "If You Ever Leave, I'm Coming with You", "Ready for the High", and "Everything I Love Is Going to Die". Music videos were also released for the tracks "This Car Drives All By Itself" and "Worry". The album was supported by a tour throughout America, Europe, and Australia during 2022.

Background and recording

The album began when all members were together in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in 2019 and wrote several songs. It was then recorded remotely during several

COVID-19 lockdowns Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions colloquially known as lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions) have been implemented in numerous countrie ...

beginning in 2020, with each band member in a different location:

Matthew Murphy Matthew Edward Murphy (born 23 July 1984) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of The Wombats, which he co-founded in 2003. He began a solo career under the name ...

in Los Angeles, bassist Tord Øverland Knudsen in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

and drummer Dan Haggis in London. They made a plan each day before separately recording their parts and sending them on to the producers. Haggis said that the band "explored new genres and pushed ourselves further than ever musically" on the album.

Cover art

The cover art for the album and its singles was created by German–American

pixel art Pixel art () is a form of digital art drawn with graphics software, graphical software where images are built using pixels as the only building block. It is widely associated with the low-resolution graphics from 8-bit and 16-bit era computers a ...

collective

eBoy eBoy is a pixel art group founded in 1997 by Kai Vermehr, Steffen Sauerteig and Svend Smital. Their complex illustrations have been made into posters, shirts, souvenirs, and displayed in gallery exhibitions. They were founded on May 2, 1997. " ...

. Kai Vermehr of eBoy said that he "collected loose ideas" from Murphy and the other band members, and the artwork came together without having "a detailed plan" but through "more of a discovery process".

Critical reception

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 normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, 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 70, based on 7 reviews, indicating "generally positive" reviews. Aggregator

AnyDecentMusic? AnyDecentMusic? is a website that collates album reviews from magazines, websites, and newspapers. Primarily focused on popular music – covering rock, pop, electronic, dance, folk, country, roots, hip-hop, R&B, and rap – albums are adjudg ...

gave it 6.8 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.

Track listing

Personnel

Greg Calbi Gregory Calbi (born April 3, 1949) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound, New Jersey. Biography Greg Calbi was born on April 3, 1949, in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Bayside, Queens, New York. He graduated in 1966 from Bisho ...

– mastering * Steve Fallone – mastering *

Mike Crossey Mike Crossey (born 1979) is a Northern Irish record producer, songwriter, and mixing engineer. He produced the debut single by Arctic Monkeys, collaborating with them over two albums. He is known for his ongoing relationship with The 1975 in a ...

– mixing *

Gabe Simon Kopecky (formerly the Kopecky Family Band) is an American indie-rock band formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2007. The band consists of Kelsey Kopecky (vocals, keyboards, and bass), Gabe Simon (vocals, guitar, and horns), Steven Holmes (guitar, lap ...

–

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

* Jack Duxbury – engineering *

Jacknife Lee Garret "Jacknife" Lee is an Irish music producer and mixer. He has worked with a variety of artists, including the Cars, U2, R.E.M., the Killers, Robbie Williams, Snow Patrol, Bloc Party, Two Door Cinema Club, AFI, the Hives, Weezer, One Directi ...

– engineering * Jonas Jalhay – engineering *

Mark Crew Mark Crew (born 21 February 1985) is a songwriter, record producer, and mix engineer based in London, known for his work with Bastille, Rag'n'Bone Man, and the Wombats. Production and songwriting Crew produced the albums '' Bad Blood'' (UK #1 ...

– engineering *

Paul Meany Paul Meany (born July 2, 1976) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music director and record producer. He is best known as the lead singer and keyboardist for the alternative rock band Mutemath. Career While under the mon ...

– engineering *

The Wombats The Wombats are an English indie rock band formed in Liverpool in 2003, consisting of Matthew Murphy (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Tord Øverland Knudsen (bass, backing vocals, keyboards), and Dan Haggis (drums, backing vocals, keyboards). ...

– engineering * Kai Vermehr – cover illustration * Steffen Sauerteig – cover illustration * Svend Smital – cover illustration * Anthony Kitson – graphic design * Stephen Sesso – assistance

Charts

References

{{The Wombats 2022 albums Albums produced by Jacknife Lee AWAL albums The Wombats albums