''Bronson'' (stylised in all caps) is the

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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. 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 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' 2019 collaborative EP ''Raka'' with The Presets and

Grammy nominated The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

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 aft ...

''. Golden Features previously remixed Odesza's song "Falls" in October 2018.

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. After multiple studio sessions over

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, 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

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, 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: "

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" (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 A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples are strawberries, raspb ...

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, and was finalised in 2020.

Composition

''Bronson'' is primarily a

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, 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 demonstra ...

album.

Themes

In a statement regarding the album's themes, Bronson stated the record is about:

"
heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...
respective 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 art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game (box art), music album (album art), ...

work depicts a man holding his head in his hands, with the letters "Bro" and "Nson" written in

capital letters Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing ...

on his left and right

hand A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each "h ...

s, respectively. The album title is displayed in white text at the bottom of the image.

Critical reception

Ross Goldenberg of '' Dancing Astronaut'' 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! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'' 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 hemagain 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's production work.

Commercial performance

In Australia, ''Bronson'' debuted and peaked at number 22 on the ARIA Albums Chart 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 ''

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''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. * "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 desce ...

. Bronson * Harrison Mills –

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

Clayton Knight Clayton Knight OBE (March 30, 1891 – July 17, 1969) was an American aviator during World War I. He was also an aviation artist and illustrator, and is known for being one of the founders of the Clayton Knight Committee and the illustrator of t ...

– 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