''Warriors'' is the third
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by Australian singer-songwriter
Lisa Mitchell
Lisa Helen Mitchell (born 22 March 1990) is an Australian singer-songwriter who grew up in Albury, New South Wales. Mitchell currently lives in Melbourne and is working on her fourth studio album. Mitchell finished sixth in the 2006 season o ...
. It was released in Australia and New Zealand on 14 October 2016. The album was produced by
Eric Dubowsky. The album was announced on 2 August 2016, with Mitchell stating: "This album is personal. There's a lot of thinking about my own kind of mythology – of myself, my life, why things are the way they are. And a lot of it is to do with childhood." Additionally, Mitchell told auspOp the album will be "sonically different" and dance had infiltrated her writing, adding "We really got rid of a lot of guitar and piano in this album."
The album's lead single "The Boys" was released on 5 August 2016, with the video premiering on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
on 1 August.
The album's second single "Warhol" was released on 14 October 2016, with a live video premiering on 6 October 2016.
Critical reception
Cameron Adams from ''
Herald Sun
The ''Herald Sun'' is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the Murdoch owned News Corp. The ''Herald S ...
'' gave the album three-and-a-half stars out of five, saying: "Even on her most pop album, Lisa Mitchell is thankfully still a square peg. Fuelled by synths and beats more than her beloved acoustic guitars it's a modern sound that suits her trademark tender vocals. The autobiographical title track gives a shout out to
Daniel Johns
Daniel Paul Johns (born 22 April 1979) is an Australian musician, singer, and songwriter best known as the former frontman, guitarist, and main songwriter of the rock band Silverchair. Johns is also one half of The Dissociatives with Paul Mac a ...
, "Unravelling" and "Josephine" bottle the
Kate Bush
Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights (song), Wuthering Heights", ...
-style mystery that, at age 26, she's already built a career on." Adams said the stand out was the 'dark cloud with tribal percussion' track, "So Wild".
Angela Christian-Wilkes from ''Beat Magazine'' said: "''Warriors'' has a firm sense of direction and purpose." adding "While the album has deviated onto the path of pop stylings, there are plenty of returning motifs. The production works well with her signature vocals, melding beautifully with the underlying airy atmosphere. The storytelling is strong, Mitchell bringing in seemingly mundane details to etch out feelings and situations, and her songwriting style continues to shine through with the new sound. This being said, the stripped acoustic goodness of "What is Love" is a welcome return to her roots".
Gareth Hipwell from ''
Rolling Stone Australia
''Rolling Stone'' Australia is the Australian edition of the United States' ''Rolling Stone'' magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture, published monthly. The Australian version of ''Rolling Stone'' was initially published in 197 ...
'' said: "''Warriors'' finds Mitchell ditching much of the guitar and piano that has defined her sound." adding "With its understated electro groove and chiming synths, opener "The Boys" is quicksilver pop bliss veined with whimsy and surrender. Vocally, Mitchell is diaphanous and delicate as ever, while at the same time less fussy, less determinedly off-beat. The acoustic "What is Love" reminds that young love is perennially tedious, while the earnest "Where You Are" is a plaintive piano ballad per ''
Bless This Mess''. The dragging regression erodes gains won by the winning electro-pop feeling of preceding passages."
Track listing
# "The Boys" – 4:25
# "Warriors" – 3:27
# "Warhol" – 3:40
# "Unravelling" – 3:20
# "So Wild" – 3:59
# "I Remember Love" – 3:50
# "What Is Love" – 5:11
# "Where You Are" – 3:38
# "Josephine" – 4:00
# "Love, Death X" – 4:45
Charts
References
{{Authority control
2016 albums
Lisa Mitchell albums