After signing with
Ministry of Sound and Big Life Management, the band began the first sessions of the album in early 2012 with
Cam Blackwood. Later that year he was replaced by
Tim Bran and
Roy Kerr. Hannah Reid commented on the collaboration, saying, "Tim is amazing at recording, of finding the best way of recording a guitar or my vocal. Roy had the strongest relationship with Dot and they worked on production together."[6]
The album's lyrics are mainly based upon vocalist Hannah Reid's personal life, in particular her troubled teenage years,[7] prompting The Guardian to suggest that this was "the first quarter-life-crisis album."[7]
If You Wait received generally positive reviews from music critics. At
Metacritic, which assigns a
normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an
average score of 75, based on 19 reviews.[9]
Andy Gill of The Independent summarised the album's production and instrumentation as "all beautifully sketched to evoke the crepuscular intimacies of the songs."[13]
A large quantity of praise went to the vocal ability of Reid, whose husky
contralto vocals have been described as "defining and soulful" by Clash magazine[20] and "emotive" and "folky" by
Drowned in Sound.[3] Her voice has been compared to artists like
Florence Welch of
Florence and the Machine,[21]Annie Lennox,[13][22] and
Julee Cruise.[13] Benji Taylor of Pretty Much Amazing wrote a favourable review of the album, calling it "an enthralling, stunning, deeply emotive album that perfectly marries understated electronica to sublime vocals and melodies." Vocalist Hannah Reid's voice was particularly praised: "underscored by an enduring brittle beauty and an underlying otherworldliness, as if she honed her craft singing amidst the gardens of Lothlorien, or some far-flung corner of Westeros."[1]
Commercial performance
If You Wait entered the
UK Albums Chart at number two, selling 33,130 copies in its first week.[23] As of June 2017, it had sold 642,301 copies in the United Kingdom.[24] In the United States, the album debuted at number 91 on the
Billboard 200 with 4,000 copies sold.[25]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
^If You Wait (liner notes).
London Grammar. Metal & Dust Recordings. 2013. MADART1.{{
cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (
link)
After signing with
Ministry of Sound and Big Life Management, the band began the first sessions of the album in early 2012 with
Cam Blackwood. Later that year he was replaced by
Tim Bran and
Roy Kerr. Hannah Reid commented on the collaboration, saying, "Tim is amazing at recording, of finding the best way of recording a guitar or my vocal. Roy had the strongest relationship with Dot and they worked on production together."[6]
The album's lyrics are mainly based upon vocalist Hannah Reid's personal life, in particular her troubled teenage years,[7] prompting The Guardian to suggest that this was "the first quarter-life-crisis album."[7]
If You Wait received generally positive reviews from music critics. At
Metacritic, which assigns a
normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an
average score of 75, based on 19 reviews.[9]
Andy Gill of The Independent summarised the album's production and instrumentation as "all beautifully sketched to evoke the crepuscular intimacies of the songs."[13]
A large quantity of praise went to the vocal ability of Reid, whose husky
contralto vocals have been described as "defining and soulful" by Clash magazine[20] and "emotive" and "folky" by
Drowned in Sound.[3] Her voice has been compared to artists like
Florence Welch of
Florence and the Machine,[21]Annie Lennox,[13][22] and
Julee Cruise.[13] Benji Taylor of Pretty Much Amazing wrote a favourable review of the album, calling it "an enthralling, stunning, deeply emotive album that perfectly marries understated electronica to sublime vocals and melodies." Vocalist Hannah Reid's voice was particularly praised: "underscored by an enduring brittle beauty and an underlying otherworldliness, as if she honed her craft singing amidst the gardens of Lothlorien, or some far-flung corner of Westeros."[1]
Commercial performance
If You Wait entered the
UK Albums Chart at number two, selling 33,130 copies in its first week.[23] As of June 2017, it had sold 642,301 copies in the United Kingdom.[24] In the United States, the album debuted at number 91 on the
Billboard 200 with 4,000 copies sold.[25]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
^If You Wait (liner notes).
London Grammar. Metal & Dust Recordings. 2013. MADART1.{{
cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (
link)