''But I'll Wait for You'' is the sixth studio album by American indie rock band
Local Natives
Local Natives is an American indie rock band formed in Orange County, California, and based in Los Angeles. The band currently consists of Taylor Rice (vocals, guitar), Ryan Hahn (guitar, backing vocals), Matthew Frazier (drums) and Nik Ewing (ba ...
. It was released on April 19, 2024, through
Loma Vista Recordings
Loma Vista Recordings is a record label founded by Tom Whalley, former chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Records and Executive of A&R at Interscope Records. The label was initially a joint venture with Republic Records and is based in Beverly Hill ...
and
Concord
Concord may refer to:
Meaning "agreement"
* Harmony, in music
* Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other words
Arts and media
* ''Concord'' (video game), a defunct 2024 first-person sh ...
.
The album comes nine months after the band's fifth studio album, ''
Time Will Wait for No One'' (2023), and is described as its companion or "sister" album. It was preceded by the singles "April" and "Alpharetta". It is the final album to feature co-lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist
Kelcey Ayer
Kelcey Paul Ayer is an American musician and co-founder of Los Angeles-based indie rock band Local Natives. In 2017, Ayer released a solo album as Jaws of Love.
Career
Ayer was raised in Orange County, California, where he was a neighbor of Ta ...
, who announced his departure from the band on April 29, 2024, ten days following the album's release.
Background
Recorded during the same sessions as ''Time Will Wait for No One'', Local Natives described the album as "the second half of a large body of music we made together, the first half we shared last year with ''Time Will Wait for No One''. It's a companion piece. A sister album. Maybe not an answer to a question, but an exhale to an inhale. So little is in our control, but among all this chaos we can choose to be there for each other. Thank you again to John Congleton, Michael Harris, and Danny Reisch, the incredibly talented producers who helped us bring these songs into their fully realized selves."
On April 29, 2024, ten days after the album's release, Local Natives announced the amicable departure of founding member
Kelcey Ayer
Kelcey Paul Ayer is an American musician and co-founder of Los Angeles-based indie rock band Local Natives. In 2017, Ayer released a solo album as Jaws of Love.
Career
Ayer was raised in Orange County, California, where he was a neighbor of Ta ...
, who will, however, remain with the group for the last phase of their touring in support of ''Time Will Wait for No One'' and ''But I'll Wait for You''.
Release
The album's lead single, "April", was released simultaneously with the album announcement on March 25, 2024. "Alpharetta" was released as the second single on April 5, 2024. ''But I'll Wait for You'' was released by
Loma Vista on April 19, 2024.
Critical reception
Writing for
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
, Matt Collar rated the album three-and-a-half out of five stars and wrote, "The fact that Local Natives are able to pull a wholly separate, not to mention catchy and emotionally engaging, album from those initial Congleton sessions speaks to the high level of quality and artistic inspiration they were working with."
Track listing
Personnel
Local Natives
*
Kelcey Ayer
Kelcey Paul Ayer is an American musician and co-founder of Los Angeles-based indie rock band Local Natives. In 2017, Ayer released a solo album as Jaws of Love.
Career
Ayer was raised in Orange County, California, where he was a neighbor of Ta ...
– vocals, guitar (all tracks); piano (tracks 1–3, 6, 9, 10), synthesizer (1, 4), keyboards (2, 6, 9), bass guitar (6), organ (8, 10)
* Nik Ewing – synthesizer (tracks 1–3, 5–8, 10), bass guitar (1, 2, 4, 7–9), piano (1, 2, 5, 7, 10),
samples (1, 5, 6), keyboards (1, 5, 7, 8),
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...
(2, 4–6),
Moog bass (2),
vibraphone
The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...
(7, 8)
* Matthew Frazier – drums (tracks 2–4, 6–10), percussion (2, 4, 5, 7, 8),
drum machine
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...
(5),
conga
The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest ...
(8)
* Ryan Hahn – guitar (all tracks), electric guitar (tracks 1, 2, 4–10), acoustic guitar (1, 8); conga, Moog bass (2); bass guitar (3–5, 10), percussion (4, 5, 8), synthesizer (5, 8); keyboards, samples (8)
* Taylor Rice – vocals, guitar (all tracks), acoustic guitar (tracks 1, 2), bass guitar (1), electric guitar (2–10), samples (2); piano, synthesizer (7); organ (10)
Additional contributors
* Ruairi O'Flaherty –
mastering
* Dean Reid –
mixing (tracks 1–3, 8)
*
John Congleton
John Congleton is a grammy winning American record producer, engineer, mixer, writer and musician.
In addition to his production work, Congleton has fronted the alternative rock band The Paper Chase, and writes music for a newer project entitl ...
– mixing (tracks 4–7, 9),
engineering
Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
(4, 7), choir (9)
* Michael Harris – engineering (tracks 1, 2, 8, 10)
* Tyler Nuffer – engineering,
pedal steel
The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...
,
steel guitar
A steel guitar () is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conventional guitar i ...
(track 1)
* Danny Reisch – engineering (tracks 2, 3, 10), string
arrangement
In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...
(2)
* Sean Cook – engineering (tracks 5, 6, 9)
* Budapest Scoring Orchestra – strings (track 2)
Art
* Nik Ewing – art direction, design
* Ramón Coronado – art direction, design
* Marshall Rake – art direction, design
* Jonathan Chu – photography
References
{{Authority control
2024 albums
Local Natives albums
Loma Vista Recordings albums
Albums produced by John Congleton