''Neotheater'' is the third studio album by American
pop band
AJR
AJR may refer to:
* AJR (motorcycle), Scotland
* AJR (band), a pop band from New York City, United States
*Abdominojugular test, to measure venous pressure
* Academy for Jewish Religion (New York)
* ''American Journal of Roentgenology''
* ''Americ ...
. It was released on April 26, 2019, by the band's label AJR Productions. The album was self-produced by the trio.
Background and release
The 12 tracks were collectively described as "a coming of age tale that hears the band coming to terms with the sacrifices that come with growing older now that they are in their 20s". A description of the album also stated: "The buoyant and uplifting music is juxtaposed with darker lyrical narratives that touch on anxiety, naivete and searching for integrity."
This album contained two official singles, and two promotional singles. AJR released the lead single "100 Bad Days" on January 29, 2019. They also released two promotional singles "Birthday Party" on March 12, 2019, and "Dear Winter" on April 5, 2019. "Dear Winter" was later released as the second official single on August 19, 2019. On October 25, 2019 they released "Dear Winter 2.0," an alternate version of the original song with added instruments.
Commercial performance
''Neotheater'' debuted at number eight on the US
''Billboard'' 200 with 32,000
album-equivalent unit
The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditi ...
s (of which 22,000 were pure album sales). It is AJR's highest-peaking and first US top 10 album.
Critical reception
The album received favorable to mixed reviews. Rolling Stone wrote in par, citing the bubbly tracks stepped in light orchestration, crisp hooks, and the social commentary, while AllMusic says that the album is "never less than refreshing".
Track listing
All tracks are written by Jack Met and Ryan Met. All tracks are produced by Ryan Met.
Notes
* "Birthday Party" features a sample of the song "
In Heaven
"In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)" (often referred to as simply "In Heaven") is a song performed by Peter Ivers, composed by Peter Ivers, with lyrics by David Lynch. The song is featured in Lynch's 1977 film ''Eraserhead'', and was subsequen ...
", written by
Peter Ivers
Peter Scott Ivers (born Peter Scott Rose, September 20, 1946 – March 3, 1983) was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and television personality. He was the host of the experimental music television show '' New Wave Theatre''. Despite Iv ...
and
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...
and performed by Laurel Near in the 1977 film ''
Eraserhead
''Eraserhead'' is a 1977 American surrealist film, surrealist horror film written, directed, produced, and edited by David Lynch. Lynch also created its Eraserhead (soundtrack), score and sound design, which included pieces by a variety of oth ...
''.
*Ryan Met is credited with writing two of the songs on this album by himself. One of those songs is "Dear Winter". Jack Met further discusses the origins of this song at 18:30 - 22:37 of source 7.
Personnel
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.
AJR
* Adam Met – vocals, bass guitar, programming, samples, percussion
* Jack Met – lead vocals, guitar, melodica, ukulele, drums, percussion, keyboards, synthesizers, samples, programming, trumpet, composition
* Ryan Met – vocals, programming, keyboards, ukulele, trumpet, production, composition
Additional personnel
*Daniel Rosenfeld – audio editing, composing
*Maikel Valdama – audio editing, mixing
* Drew Allsbrook – bass guitar
* Chris Berry – drums
* Chris Cerrato – design
* Ezra Donellan – vocals
* Samia Finnerty – vocals
*
Chris Gehringer
Chris Gehringer (born May 27, 1962) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered recordings such as Gwen Stefani's '' Love. Angel. Music. Baby.'' (2004), Rihanna's '' Loud'' (2010), Lady Gaga's '' Born This Way'' (2011) and Drake' ...
– mastering
* JJ Kirkpatrick – trumpet
* Ruth Kornblatt-Stier – cello
* Emelia Suljic – violin
* Joe Zook – mixing
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
References
{{Authority control
2019 albums
AJR (band) albums