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''Oh! Gravity.'' is the sixth album by the
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–based
alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
band
Switchfoot Switchfoot is an American rock music, rock band from San Diego, California. The band's members are Jon Foreman (lead vocals, guitar), Tim Foreman (bass guitar, backing vocals), Chad Butler (drum kit, drums, percussion), and Jerome Fontamillas (g ...
. It was released on December 26, 2006. It was Switchfoot's last album released through
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...
and
Sony BMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout o ...
(Their next album was released through lowercase people records). To give fans a preview of the new material, Switchfoot released the downloadable single " Dirty Second Hands" to major online music stores on September 26. The album's first radio
single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...
, the title song "Oh! Gravity.", was released to radio on October 31, and received moderate airplay on alternative stations across America. In addition, the band provided free streaming audio of both the aforementioned tracks on their MySpace page. The album debuted on the ''Billboard'' 200 at number 18, as the second-highest debut of the week, selling 63,000 copies in its first week. As of June 2010, the album had sold 262,000+ copies.


Production


Background and recording

The concept of ''Oh! Gravity.'' originally began as a short EP recording. "We weren't trying to achieve anything; we just set out to make music for ourselves," lead vocalist and principal songwriter Jon Foreman said of the process. Switchfoot, who tour heavily throughout the year, took a break in spring of 2006 between legs of the Nothing Is Sound Tour to record five or six song ideas with producer John Fields. During their time in the studio, the band found that they had more than enough time to record additional songs, and decided to put together a full-length LP, which they have called their most "sincere" effort yet. Enlisting their A&R producer Steve Lillywhite, the band tracked the song "
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" and were enlivened by his fresh approach to recording. Lillywhite emphasized the "How does it make you feel?" approach to the process, "which felt great" according to Foreman. "We spent far more time rehearsing and refining the song than we did actually recording it... Don't press record until you get things right." The rest of the record was produced by Tim Palmer, who Foreman described as possessing the uncanny ability to get "everyone out of their skins, where you begin to forget that the mics are there."


Music and lyrical themes

While the band's previous effort, 2005's ''
Nothing Is Sound ''Nothing Is Sound'' is the fifth studio album by United States, American alternative rock band Switchfoot. It was released on September 13, 2005 and debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200. The first single from the album ...
'', was termed "darker," ''Oh! Gravity.'' represented a departure from that densely layered sound. It was an attempt to find the balance between "spit and polish" as Foreman said. "This one's got a lot more spit." As such, the album was lighter on the sonic layering, with less production elements than ''Nothing Is Sound'' or even ''The Beautiful Letdown,'' and carried a more pop direction, with new experimentation into areas the band had not previously explored, while also returning to their lo-fi indie roots. Topics explore living, time, coping with the death of a loved one, and, most dominantly, anti-materialism, particularly in the songs "American Dream" and "4:12," with the lyrics: "You begin to believe/that all we are is material/it's nonsensical."


Promotion and release

On June 2 Switchfoot e-mailed a newsletter containing a free download of an unreleased song, "Daylight to Break," along with a statement from Tim Foreman implying that the band wanted to have a new album out by the end of the year, as well as thanking their fans for helping keep the band together for ten years. The recording of this album was rather public, as Switchfoot had set up a
webcam A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in Videotelephony, video telephony, live streaming and social media, and Closed-circuit television, security. Webcams can b ...
in their recording studio, and also continued to keep fans updated via their
podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...
s. A contest was also conducted to give fans a chance to win an opportunity to be in the studio with the band to play
cowbell A cowbell (or cow bell) is a bell (instrument), bell worn around the neck of free-roaming livestock so herders can keep track of an animal via the sound of the bell when the animal is grazing out of view in hilly landscapes or vast plains. ...
on one of the tracks. In early August, Switchfoot announced that the album was complete. By late September, the band had released the song "Dirty Second Hands" as a downloadable single to further promote the album. In early October, the band made the songs "Dirty Second Hands" and "Oh! Gravity" available for streaming on their MySpace page, the latter of which was serviced to Modern Rock radio as the lead single for the record. The entire album also "leaked" on MTV2.com in the week leading up to the album's official release. In addition, the band launched the websit
OhGravity.com
which featured the title track and
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
clips that highlighted "gravity at its best" - mainly people falling while skateboarding, surfing, and participating in other similar activities. The website is no longer up.


Critical reception


Awards and accolades

In 2008, the album was nominated for a
Dove Award A Dove Award is an accolade by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry. The awards ceremonies presented annually and have been held in Nashville, Tennessee exce ...
for Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year at the
39th GMA Dove Awards The 39th Annual GMA Dove Awards presentation was held on April 23, 2008, recognizing accomplishments of musicians for the year 2007. The show was held at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee. Nominations were announced on February 14, ...
. The song "Awakening" was also nominated for Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year.


Track listing

* *In these versions, "American Dream (Acoustic)" is available as a digital download.


Personnel

Recorded at Big Fish Recordings,
Encinitas, California Encinitas ( Spanish for "Small Oaks") is a beach city in the North County area of San Diego County, California, United States. Located in Southern California, it is approximately north of San Diego, between Solana Beach and Carlsbad, and a ...
. Additional recording at Signature Sound,
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, and Starstruck Studio. Mixed at Paramount Recording,
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, and South Beach Studios,
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. Mastered at
Sterling Sound George Marino (April 15, 1947June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s. Biography Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He attended ...
,
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. Switchfoot *
Jon Foreman Jonathan Mark Foreman (born October 22, 1976) is an American musician who is the lead singer, guitarist, primary songwriter, and co-founder of the alternative rock band Switchfoot. As a solo act, Foreman has released 14 extended plays and two st ...
– lead vocals,
rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...
, lead guitar *
Tim Foreman Switchfoot is an American rock band from San Diego, California. The band's members are Jon Foreman (lead vocals, guitar), Tim Foreman (bass guitar, backing vocals), Chad Butler (drums, percussion), and Jerome Fontamillas (guitar, keyboards, bac ...
– bass guitar, backing vocals *Chad Butler – drums *
Jerome Fontamillas Switchfoot is an American rock band from San Diego, California. The band's members are Jon Foreman (lead vocals, guitar), Tim Foreman (bass guitar, backing vocals), Chad Butler (drums, percussion), and Jerome Fontamillas (guitar, keyboards, ba ...
– rhythm guitar, keyboard, backing vocals *Drew Shirley – lead guitar, backing vocals Additional musicians * Keith Tutt II –
cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...
(tracks 7, 11 and 12) * Kybra Minisee – violin (tracks 7, 11 and 12) * Sidney Cabrera – violin (tracks 7, 11 and 12) * Andy Geibon –
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(tracks 6 and 12) *
Charlie Peacock Charles William Ashworth (born August 10, 1956), known professionally as Charlie Peacock, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, record producer, and author. His albums include ''Love Press Ex-Curio'', ''Arc of the Circle'' and ''No Man's L ...
– Chimus Minutus (track 12) * Mark Felthamon –
harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...
(tracks 7 and 11) * Sarah Mooridian –
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(track 6) *
Sean Watkins Sean Charles Watkins (born February 18, 1977) is an American guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He is a member of the contemporary folk band Nickel Creek, the duo Fiction Family and the supergroup Works Progress Administration. He is the brot ...
and
Sara Watkins Sara Ullrika Watkins (born June 8, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter and fiddler. Watkins debuted in 1989 as the fiddler of Nickel Creek, the progressive bluegrass group she formed with her brother Sean and mandolinist Chris Thile. In addi ...
– guest vocals and
mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...
(track 5) * Noah Lamberth – Space Pedal Steel (track 9) * "Care House Choir": Jennifer, Lukas, Dawn, Tierra, Lynsey, Steffany, Luke, and Devin – vocals (track 10) * Tim Lord Palmer – additional "window treatments" Additional personnel *
Steve Lillywhite Stephen Alan Lillywhite (born 15 March 1955) is an English record producer. Since he began his career in 1977, Lillywhite has been credited on over 500 records, and has collaborated with a variety of musicians including new wave acts The Alarm ...
– executive producer, production (track 4) *
Tim Palmer Tim Palmer may refer to: * Tim Palmer (film historian) (born 1975), English film historian * Tim Palmer (journalist), Australian journalist * Tim Palmer (1943-1997), British technology journalist * Tim Palmer (physicist) (born 1952), English physic ...
– production, additional production (tracks 4, 5 and 12),
recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...
, mixing * Switchfoot – production, additional production (track 4), additional recording * John Fields – production (tracks 3, 5, 12), additional recording, mixing (track 3) *
Tom Lord-Alge Tom Lord-Alge (born January 17, 1962) is an American music engineer and mixer. He began his career at Unique Recording in New York. Subsequently, he was the resident mixer at what used to be known as "South Beach Studios", located on the ground ...
– mixing (tracks 2 and 4) *
Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' '' Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Early life ...
mastering * Steven Miller – additional recording * Chris Testa – additional recording * Joe Marlett – additional recording * Michael Harris – recording assistant * Matt Beckley – recording assistant * Cameron Barton – recording assistant * Zeph Sowers – recording assistant * Jamie Seyberth – assistant mix engineer * Femio Hernandez – assistant mix engineer (tracks 2 and 4) * Joshua Marc Levy – art direction and illustration * Andy Barron – photography


Charts


Release history


''Oh! EP.''

Pre-orders of "Oh! Gravity." from switchfoot.com came bundled with a three-song EP that the band recorded in the same studio sessions as "Oh! Gravity." The EP was first made available on October 17, 2006, at Switchfoot's live shows but became available online as well. It later became available separately on the Switchfoot online store.


Track listing


References


External links


Press release for the album
{{Authority control 2006 albums Albums produced by John Fields (record producer) Albums produced by Steve Lillywhite Albums produced by Switchfoot Albums produced by Tim Palmer Columbia Records albums Switchfoot albums