''Who Killed

Harry Houdini Harry Houdini (, born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American escape artist, magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician ...

?'' is the second full-length studio album by

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

band I'm from Barcelona, released on October 14, 2008. A streaming version of the album's single, "Paper Planes", was released on

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

on July 15, 2008. It was co-produced by band leader Emanuel Lundgren, and Fabian Torsson.

Critical reception

''Who Killed Harry Houdini?'' received mostly positive reviews from contemporary music critics. At

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 normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, 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 68, based on 12 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Dan Raper of

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

praised the album, stating, "Shiny pieces of melody peek out from the lush pop textures the band’s created all through ''Who Killed Harry Houdini?''. In fact, the album keeps up songwriting quality at a surprisingly consistent level, taking a collective breath before barrelling into a series of fine tunes to close. From “Ophelia”’s awkward keyboard switches to the expansive, syncopated refrain of “Little Ghost”, this section of the disc feels like a nostalgic, triumphant encore. It’s not the last one this band will have demanded of them." Marc Hogan of

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

was more critical of the album, stating, "''Houdini'' sounds like an attempt to escape from the predicament of the sophomore album, making more nuanced use of orchestration and sticking with a comfortingly sweet and naïve tone while also expanding its perspective. March-like first single "Paper Planes" has sunny guitars, whistling woodwinds, neighbors' sex, and "The Cosby Show", slyly invoking the way we pass unseen through the lives of strangers; free mp3 giveaway "Music Killed Me" adds a kiddie-psych spaceyness, using the choral vocal to full rhetorical advantage. "Andy" politely invites a guy—with the same name as one of my local bartenders!-- to join the band. But nothing here has the euphoric simplicity of "We're From Barcelona", or quite the infant-"Calvin & Hobbes" wisdom of "Chicken Pox" and "Treehouse"."

Track listing

References

{{Authority control 2008 albums I'm from Barcelona albums