Hold Me Down

''Hold Me Down'' is the second studio album by English rock band You Me at Six, released on 11 January 2010 through Virgin Records as the follow-up to 2008's '' Take Off Your Colours''. It is the band's first release on the major label Virgin Records. Like their debut album, the album was once again produced and engineered by John Mitchell and Matt O'Grady. "The Consequence" was made available for free digital download before the first single, "Underdog" preceded the album's release. Despite receiving mixed reviews, ''Hold Me Down'' was a commercial success and debuted at No. 5 on the UK Albums Chart and is certified Gold in the UK for 100,000 shipments of copies.

Background and production

You Me at Six's debut album '' Take Off Your Colours'' was released in October 2008, produced by Matt O'Grady and John Mitchell. To promote the album, the band sold out the Astoria and the Roundhouse, both in London. They later supported Fall Out Boy and Paramore separately on their Europe tours. Sometime after this, frontman Josh Franceschi broke up with his long-term girlfriend, which to him was the "biggest thing in the world". In April and May 2009, the band recorded the majority of their next album, with additional sessions in July 2009. Mitchell and O'Grady returned to produce the group's next album. O'Grady also acted as engineer, while Mitchell mixed the recordings. Bob Ludwig mastered the album at Gateway Mastering. Franceschi said the band made an album that "sounded really big on CD". He also stated that recording took around 6–7 weeks, as opposed to the 2 weeks for ''Take Off Your Colours''. The album also features guest vocals from Aled Phillips of Kids in Glass Houses on "There's No Such Thing as Accidental Infidelity" and Sean Smith of The Blackout on "The Consequence". Prior to release the band stated they were very happy that the album "reflects our growth as people and musicians".

Composition

Musically, the album has been described as pop punk and pop rock. According to Franceschi, the band "developed our sound a lot" and built upon all of the "things we thought were good from ''Take Off Your Colours''". They spent more time writing material, which Franceschi said was "really important, the album like forming the way it did. I think it’s definitely a step in the right direction for our band". Before working on the album, he had broken up with his girlfriend and wanted to avoid writing about that situation. Instead, he focused on the previous year of his life and problems that he had with the music industry.

"The Consequence" is darker-edged track that opens the album with sound of sirens; the guitar riff in it recalled the one in "Everyday Combat" by Lostprophets. Franceschi's vocal on it had been compared to Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns. "Underdog" with its focus on drums and guitars earned it a comparison to " Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes" (2008) by Fall Out Boy. "Playing the Blame Game" evokes the sound of Paramore and Panic! at the Disco. Portions of "Stay with Me" were reminiscent of the work of the Used. "There's No Such Thing as Accidental Infidelity" is a soft rock song that incorporated the band's American influences. The album concludes with the pop rock track "Fireworks".

Release and promotion

On 11 November 2009, ''Hold Me Down'' was announced for release in January 2010. In addition, the album's track listing was revealed. On 25 November, "The Consequence" was released as a free download. In December, the group supported Paramore on their headlining UK tour. "Underdog" premiered on Nick Grimshaw's BBC Radio 1 show on 17 December. The following day, a music video was released for "The Consequence". "Underdog" was posted on the band's Myspace page on 27 December. A music video was released for the track on 4 January 2010. ''Hold Me Down'' was released on 11 January through Virgin Records. "Underdog" was released as a single, with "Fact-Tastic" and an acoustic version of "Underdog" as additional tracks, on 5 February. In February and March, the band performed at the Soundwave festival in Australia, and then embarked on a headlining UK tour. In the midst of this, a music video was released for "Underdog". On 16 March, the album was released in the US.

A music video was released for "Liquid Confidence" on 19 March. The track was released as an EP, with live versions of "The Consequence" and "Kiss and Tell" recorded at Wembley Arena as additional tracks, on 16 April. In May, the band performed at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend. The group supported Bring Me the Horizon for two shows in the US, before embarking on the Warped Tour between late June and early August. A music video was released for "Stay with Me" on 21 July. In August, the band performed on the main stage at the Reading and Leeds Festivals. "Stay with Me" was released as a single, with a cover of Ellie Goulding's " Starry Eyed" and an acoustic version of "Stay with Me" as additional tracks, on 3 September. The band then went on tours of New Zealand, Australia and Japan. In December, the group went on a headlining UK tour with support from The Blackout, Set Your Goals and Canterbury. Due to weather issues, two of shows were rescheduled for January 2011. The group then added two extra shows around these rescheduled date.

In 2021, Franceschi ranked ''Hold Me Down'' as his fourth favourite You Me at Six album, stating that it felt as if it was "our first ‘real’ recording of an album. By that I mean we had a longer time to put the record together". That same year, the band played a series of celebratory 10th anniversary shows where they performed the album in its entirety.

Reception

After selling over 10,000 copies, the album reached number four in the midweek chart, before eventually charting at number five in the UK chart. It was certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry in March 2010 and Gold in March 2012. It had sold over 60,000 copies by May 2011. "Liquid Confidence" and ''Hold Me Down'' were nominated at the 2010 Kerrang! Awards for Best Single and Best Album respectively. Out of the two, "Liquid Confidence" won Best Single.

''Hold Me Down'' received mixed reviews from music critics upon its release, ranging from high praise to criticism in equal measure. AnyDecentMusic? gave it an average score of 4.6, based on eight reviews. Tim Newbound reviewed the album in ''Rock Sound'' and was largely favorable. He made comparisons with New Found Glory's self-titled album; "the album boasts a glorious sense of youthful exuberance, arguably only bettered by their US peers New Found Glory's 2000 self-titled effort... These boys are far from copycats though. There are way too many melodic rock/pop-punk bands in the world who are happy to ride on the coattails of others; throughout ''Hold Me Down'', You Me at Six have instead pushed themselves to create a record that will delight existing fans and should rightfully attract many more". ''Kerrang!'' magazine were also favourable. David McLaughlin stated that "this time around You Me at Six have spiked the mix and created a cocktail so sweetly addictive that the faithful might just have to get used to sharing this band with many more". He also complimented the band's progression by adding, "It's not so much that the songs themselves that impress, but rather how much it shows this band are growing".

Joe Barton of '' The Skinny'' was less favourable however. He lamented, "any of the dozen tracks of ''Hold Me Down'', despite being flawlessly executed, could just as easily have been knocked out by teen-adored Hoobastank or Taking Back Sunday. That being said, this kind of music has a rabid audience. If they’d only been a few years older, though, they would have the Arctic Monkeys to idolise... you can’t help feeling these kids have been short-changed". More unfavorable reviews also followed from British newspapers; Simon Price of ''The Independent'' bemoaned, "From the action-packed band name to the obligatory long song titles, from the witless blare of the vocals to the compressed blandness of the guitar sound, this is bog-standard emo ordinaire". Kitty Empire of ''The Observer'' criticized the album's lack of originality; "Polished, punchy ''Hold Me Down'' is their second album, replete with bouncy dramas about loyalty, betrayal and other perils of young love. Its sole insight is contained in the song title 'There's No Such Thing As Accidental Infidelity'; not even the most fine-meshed musical sieve could unearth any originality here".

BBC
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