Are You Alone?
Studio album by
Majical Cloudz
ReleasedOctober 16, 2015
Genre
Length43:32
LabelMatador
Majical Cloudz chronology
Impersonator
(2013)		 Are You Alone?
(2015)		 Wait & See
(2016)
Singles from Are You Alone?
  1. "Silver Car Crash"
    Released: August 12, 2015
  2. "Are You Alone?"
    Released: September 21, 2015
  3. "Downtown"
    Released: October 7, 2015

Are You Alone? is the fourth and final studio album from Canadian pop duo Majical Cloudz, released on October 16, 2015, on Matador Records.[6]

The album was nominated for a Juno Award in 2016.[7]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.7/10[8]
Metacritic80/100[9]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[10]
Consequence of SoundB+[11]
Exclaim!8/10[12]
The Guardian[13]
The Irish Times[14]
Mojo[15]
Pitchfork8.0/10[16]
Rolling Stone[3]
Spin8/10[2]
Uncut5/10[17]

Are You Alone? received largely positive reviews from contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 80, based on 18 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[9]

Mike Powell of Pitchfork gave the album a positive review, stating, "Like Impersonator, Alone is a sad album, but its sadness is a kind of tall tale, the details of which are overblown for dramatic effect. At times its lyrics sound less like expressions of personal darkness than advertisements for darkness in general, written in lettering so big you could read it from the highway." Powell continues, "Alone is less stripped-down than Impersonator, but it feels less confrontational, too. The band recently went on tour opening for Lorde, and seem to have figured out how to broaden their sound while softening it at the same time, all without losing the detonating high that made Impersonator so remarkable. Songs like "So Blue" and "Downtown"—both standouts—are easy to imagine as more fully fleshed out pieces of music, conveying size without occupying space. Like photographic negatives, you can still see the image but the inversion of blacks and whites lends it a kind of alien melancholy."[16]

Ben Kopel of Flood Magazine wrote of the album: "With this, their sophomore LP about the shaky realities surrounding real love, the co-conspirators have delivered one of 2015’s most honest and moving albums. Lyrically, Welsh explores the doubts and fears that crawl in anytime we open our hearts and lives to anyone—be they family, friend, or partner—with a vulnerability that’s completely comfortable with sounding courageous and unsure in the same baritone breath."

Accolades

Publication Accolade Year Rank
Consequence of Sound Top 50 Albums of 2015 2015
Paste The 50 Best Albums of 2015 2015
PopMatters The 80 Best Albums of 2015 2015
Spin The 50 Best Albums of 2015 2015

Track listing

All tracks are written by Devon Welsh

No.TitleLength
1."Disappeared"3:45
2."Control"3:21
3."Are You Alone?"3:50
4."So Blue"3:49
5."Heavy"3:29
6."Silver Car Crash"3:30
7."Change"4:06
8."If You're Lonely"3:40
9."Downtown"4:09
10."Easier Said than Done"2:47
11."Game Show"3:19
12."Call On Me"3:47
Total length:43:32

Personnel

Main personnel
  • Devon Welsh – composer
  • Matthew Otto – composer, mixing
  • Fady Hanna - keyboards, synths
  • Owen Pallett – cello, drums, violin (4)
  • Austin Milne – saxophone (1)
  • Kenneth Welsh – flute (5, 7)
Additional personnel
  • Tyler Crawford – mixing
  • Tyler Fitzmaurice – mixing
  • Ryan Morey – mastering

References

  1. ↑ Idelji-Tehrani, Saam (2015-10-16). "You are not alone with Majical Cloudz". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  2. 1 2 McGovern, Kyle (October 16, 2015). "Review: Majical Cloudz Are Here for You on 'Are You Alone?'". Spin. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 Hermes, Will (October 15, 2015). "Are You Alone?". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  4. ↑ Hunter-Tilney, Ludovic (2015-10-16). "Majical Cloudz: Are You Alone? — review". Financial Times. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  5. ↑ Stevens, Nathan (2015-11-04). "You Are Not Alone: An Interview with Majical Cloudz". PopMatters. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  6. ↑ Minsker, Evan (2015-08-12). "Majical Cloudz Announce Are You Alone?, Share "Silver Car Crash"". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  7. ↑ "Drake, the Weeknd, Tobias Jesso Jr., Majical Cloudz, Destroyer, Adele, More Nominated for Juno Awards | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 2018-02-03.
  8. ↑ "Are You Alone? by Majical Cloudz reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  9. 1 2 "Reviews for Are You Alone? by Majical Cloudz". Metacritic. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  10. ↑ Donelson, Marcy. "Are You Alone? – Majical Cloudz". AllMusic. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  11. ↑ Kivel, Adam (October 14, 2015). "Majical Cloudz – Are You Alone?". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  12. ↑ Carlick, Stephen (October 15, 2015). "Majical Cloudz: Are You Alone?". Exclaim!. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  13. ↑ Hutchinson, Kate (October 15, 2015). "Majical Cloudz: Are You Alone? review – surreal and beguiling pop". The Guardian. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  14. ↑ Carroll, Jim (October 23, 2015). "Majical Cloudz: Are You Alone? – Album Review". The Irish Times. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  15. ↑ "Majical Cloudz: Are You Alone?". Mojo (265): 93. December 2015.
  16. 1 2 Powell, Mike (October 13, 2015). "Majical Cloudz: Are You Alone?". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Majical Cloudz: Are You Alone?". Uncut (223): 74. December 2015.
  18. ↑ "Top 50 Albums of 2015". Consequence of Sound. December 2, 2015. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  19. ↑ "The 50 Best Albums of 2015". Paste. December 1, 2015. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  20. ↑ "The 80 Best Albums of 2015". PopMatters. January 3, 2016. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  21. ↑ "The 50 Best Albums of 2015". Spin. December 1, 2015. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
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