Lupercalia
Studio album by
Patrick Wolf
Released20 June 2011
GenreIndie pop, indietronica
Length41:05
LabelMercury
ProducerPatrick Wolf
Patrick Wolf chronology
The Spinster EP
(2009)		 Lupercalia
(2011)		 Lemuralia EP
(2011)
Singles from Lupercalia
  1. "The City"
    Released: 14 March 2011[1]
  2. "House"
    Released: 23 May 2011[2]
  3. "Time of My Life"
    Released: 16 September 2011[3]
  4. "Together"
    Released: 5 December 2011
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic72/100[4]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
Digital Spy4/5[6]
The Independent[7]
The Guardian[8]
NME[9]
Pitchfork5.5/10[10]
Q[11]
The Skinny[12]
Slant Magazine[13]
Sputnikmusic4.5/5[14]

Lupercalia is the fifth studio album by English singer-songwriter Patrick Wolf, released on 20 June 2011[15] by Hideout, a subsidiary of Mercury Records.[16]

Album information

Formerly The Conqueror – originally the second part of a double album entitled Battle – the album's title and concept was changed by Wolf in August 2010.

On 4 November 2010, Wolf announced that the first single from the album was to be 'Time of My Life' and the song was posted on YouTube. The second single, entitled "The City", was released 14 March 2011.[1]

On 23 December 2010, Wolf announced via Twitter that, while he had considered multiple album titles, such as 'The Native' and 'Tahina Spectabilis' with fan support he decided on Lupercalia, reflecting the "festival of love" theme of the album.[10][17][18]

Speaking to Digital Spy in March 2011, of the album Wolf says:

"There are about four sad, melancholy moments on the album, but in general it's jubilant and about falling deeply in love. It's a really romantic record and it's extremely honest. Every song is a true story and not disguised with the folklore and fairytale that I've been known for in the past."[19]

On why the album is entitled Lupercalia, Wolf says,

"Songs about love are obviously the most common theme in pop music, but I wanted to approach it in a way that hadn't been done before. The title refers to the Lupercalia festival, which is the ancient fertility and love festival that happens around Valentine's Day. I strive to be original – it's one of my biggest ambitions. There can be nothing worse sometimes than a soppy love record – imagine if I'd called it To Love: Patrick Wolf!"[19]

A 7-track bonus disc titled ‘Lemuralia’ was released alongside the album online, containing album tracks in demo stages – it acts as an EP companion to Lupercalia.

Alongside the album's release, Wolf was featured on the cover of national UK publication Notion. The feature included an interview with writer Alex Lee Thomson, clothes by James Long, and photos by James Moriarty.

The track "The Days" is featured over the End Titles to the 2017 film God's Own Country.

The Conqueror era

The fifth album was originally part of a double album entitled Battle, named for the Sussex town where he recorded the new material. On 19 February 2009, Wolf announced that Battle had been split into two releases, The Bachelor and The Conqueror (although the latter album title has subsequently been changed to Lupercalia).

The Bachelor was released on 1 June 2009 and the new album will see release in 2011. Speaking of the decision to split the release into two albums rather than the double album, Wolf expressed the desire "not to overload people with too much".[20] He has since suggested that while The Bachelor was practically finished, he felt that there were still "a couple of songs or stories to be written for the second part".[21]

Speaking to Spinner in February 2009, Wolf explains that while "The Bachelor has themes of loneliness, hedonism, depression and melancholy...[The Conqueror] is all my depression being suddenly lifted by true love."[22]

It was originally planned that Wolf would work in collaboration with Bandstocks again to fund the new album, as was done with The Bachelor. However, due to Wolf being signed to Mercury Records, this is no longer the case.

In an interview with Gay&Night magazine from The Netherlands in July 2009, it was revealed that Tilda Swinton will be appearing in some tracks on the new album, as was the case on The Bachelor.

In an interview with The Times on 12 August 2009, Patrick confirmed that Groove Armada were collaborating with him on tracks for the album. Suggesting that the album would draw influences from Motown and disco, he described it as "not cheese, it's happy, pornographic music. You can be quite experimental but produce anthems that people want to get married to, you know, have that first dance at a wedding thing. Music for your first kiss."[23]

In late August 2010, on his Twitter page, Patrick revealed that both the album's name and concept had changed.[24]

Tours

Pre-release tour

In the lead up to the album's release, Wolf toured Russia, Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Portugal, Turkey and Sweden. The tour culminated at festivals in the Isle of Wight, Glastonbury, Balado (T in the Park) and Reading and Leeds in the UK.

Lupercalia Tour

Between October and December 2011, Wolf played a promotional tour, the Lupercalia Tour. The tour started on 22 October in Scotland and visited England, Ireland, France, Turkey, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Finland and Russia[25]

Wolf announced via Twitter on 27 July 2011 that the main support act for the UK and Ireland leg of the tour would be English singer-songwriter CocknBullKid.

On 30 August 2011, Wolf announced a remix competition for the song 'Time of My Life'. The winning three entries would be featured on Wolf's website, and in addition he would pick his top remix to perform on tour.

Track listing

A preview of The Bachelor was released on the Bandstocks website, and later featured on Wolf's MySpace page, entitled "Battle Megamix". The megamix featured two songs not found on The Bachelor ("Time of My Life" and "Together"), which now appear on the new album.

The official track listing was confirmed on 21 February 2011.[26]

All tracks are written by Patrick Wolf

No.TitleLength
1."The City"4:13
2."House"3:31
3."Bermondsey Street"3:26
4."The Future"2:54
5."Armistice"3:29
6."William"0:51
7."Time of My Life"4:21
8."The Days"4:53
9."Slow Motion"5:10
10."Together"4:40
11."The Falcons"3:35
Deluxe version
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)/Director(s)Length
12."I" (Video Portrait) John Lindquist 
13."II" (Video Portrait) John Lindquist 
14."III" (Video Portrait) John Lindquist 
15."IV" (Video Portrait) John Lindquist 
16."V" (Video Portrait) John Lindquist 
17."Anthem" (bonus track, cover)Leonard Cohen, Rebecca De Mornay, Yoav Goren 4:53
18."Sing" (bonus track)  3:01

Charts

Chart performance for Lupercalia
Chart (2011) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[27] 47
UK Albums (OCC)[28] 37

References

  1. 1 2 Frith, Holly (22 February 2011). "Patrick Wolf announces Lupercalia Tracklisting". Gigwise. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  2. ↑ "Patrick Wolf posts new video". Sputnikmusic. 23 May 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  3. ↑ ""Time of My Life": Patrick Wolf". iTunes. January 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  4. ↑ "Lupercalia Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  5. ↑ O'Brien, Jon. "Lupercalia – Patrick Wolf". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  6. ↑ "Patrick Wolf: 'Lupercalia' – Music Album Review". Digital Spy. 17 June 2011. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  7. ↑ Gill, Andy (17 June 2011). "Album: Patrick Wolf, Lupercalia (Hideout)". The Independent. London.
  8. ↑ Petridis, Alexis (17 June 2011). "Patrick Wolf: Lupercalia – review". The Guardian. London.
  9. ↑ "NME Album Reviews – Album Review: Patrick Wolf – 'Lupercalia'". NME. 14 June 2011. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  10. 1 2 "Patrick Wolf: Lupercalia | Album Reviews". Pitchfork. 2 June 2011. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  11. ↑ "Press". Retrieved 29 February 2012 – via Facebook.
  12. ↑ Buckle, Chris (31 May 2011). "Patrick Wolf – Lupercalia". The Skinny. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  13. ↑ "Patrick Wolf: Lupercalia | Music Review". Slant Magazine. 19 June 2011. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  14. ↑ "Patrick Wolf – Lupercalia (staff review)". Sputnikmusic. 20 June 2011. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  15. ↑ Cragg, Michael (9 June 2011). "Patrick Wolf: Lupercalia Review". BBC. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  16. ↑ "So is the new Patrick Wolf single any good then?". Popjustice. Archived from the original on 11 January 2012.
  17. ↑ "ok LUPERCALIA it is" (tweet). Twitter. 23 December 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  18. ↑ "I LOVE Yall so much. Here starts the festival of LOVE LETS PURIFY THE CITY + HARD TIMES WITH OUR LOVE! its been in my head too long a time x" (tweet). Twitter. 23 December 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  19. 1 2 Copsey, Robert (1 March 2011). "Patrick Wolf". Digital Spy. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  20. ↑ Patrick Wolf changes name of forthcoming album | NME.COM
  21. ↑ "Arjan Interviews Patrick Wolf". Arjan Writes. 5 May 2009. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  22. ↑ Chiu, David (11 February 2009). "Patrick Wolf Ready to 'Battle,' but Not With Madonna". Spinner Canada. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  23. ↑ Galliano, Joseph (12 August 2009). "Patrick Wolf goes it alone". The Times. London.
  24. ↑ "the conqueror is no more the album title.... I've grown up a lot from that battle aggression" (tweet). 19 August 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2012 – via Twitter.
  25. ↑ "Patrick Wolf official concert ticket store". Patrickwolftickets.sandbag.uk.com. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  26. ↑ Patrick Wolf: Pre-order Lupercalia now!
  27. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Patrick Wolf – Lupercalia" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  28. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
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