The Bravery
Studio album by
the Bravery
ReleasedMarch 14, 2005 (2005-03-14)
Studio
  • Bushwick (Brooklyn, New York City)
  • Various bedrooms
Genre
Length37:51
LabelIsland
ProducerSam Endicott
The Bravery chronology
The Bravery
(2005)		 The Sun and the Moon
(2007)
Singles from The Bravery
  1. "An Honest Mistake"
    Released: January 31, 2005[1]
  2. "Fearless"
    Released: May 23, 2005[2]
  3. "Unconditional"
    Released: August 22, 2005[1]

The Bravery is the debut studio album by New York indie rock band the Bravery, released in March 2005. It peaked at number 18 on the Billboard 200[3] and number 5 in the UK.[4]

The first single from the album, "An Honest Mistake", was released on January 31, 2005. The UK and Japanese releases of the album contain the bonus track "Hot Pursuit". The version on the Japanese edition is a different mix, featuring Gillian Conway (keyboardist John Conway's sister) on vocals, along with Sam Endicott.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic66/100[5]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Lost At Sea8/10[7]
NME7/10[8]
Pitchfork5.3/10[9]
PopMatters7/10[10]
Robert Christgau(dud)[11]
Rolling Stone[12]
Uncut[13]

The Bravery garnered positive reviews from music critics who praised their interpretation of the new wave revival movement. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 66, based on 24 reviews.[5]

Steve Sutherland of Uncut gave high praise to the new wave revivalist production and the band's musicianship resembling that of their inspirations, in terms of vocals and instrumentals, concluding that, "This album is already one of the debuts of the year. All hail The Bravery and their new bold dream."[13] MacKenzie Wilson of AllMusic praised the band for taking their influences and making them their own with catchability and upbeat optimism, saying that, "The Bravery isn't sonically mind-blowing, but the new millennium new wave revival remains intriguing. This New York five-piece makes an interesting effort without it coming off contrived and dishonest."[6]

While finding Endicott's vocal delivery mediocre at best, Nicholas Taylor of PopMatters praised the danceable production and devil-may-care lyrics for giving the band a nice platform to start from, concluding with, "This debut is certainly promising, and I look forward to seeing whether the Bravery can begin to carve out a more concrete and distinctive image and place for themselves."[10] Robert Christgau graded the album as a "dud",[11] indicating "a bad record whose details rarely merit further thought."[14] Pitchfork writer Adam Moerder criticized the band's unremarkable take on '80s new wave with lacklustre instrumentals and Endicott's vocals sounding too close to Robert Smith and Simon Le Bon. He gave praise to the tracks "An Honest Mistake" and "Tyrant" for their intricacies in terms of synth and vocal choices, concluding that "Despite these highlights, though, this is still rock made on an assembly line— predictable, economically efficient, and about as dynamic as a Model T."[9]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Sam Endicott, except where noted

No.TitleLength
1."An Honest Mistake"3:39
2."No Brakes"3:04
3."Fearless"3:06
4."Tyrant" (Endicott, John Conway)4:43
5."Give In"2:48
6."Swollen Summer"3:18
7."Public Service Announcement"3:35
8."Out of Line"3:04
9."Unconditional"3:21
10."The Ring Song"3:25
11."Rites of Spring"3:21
Total length:37:51

Bonus tracks

  1. "Hot Pursuit" (Endicott, Conway) – 3:07 (UK/Japanese bonus track)
  2. "Hey Sunshiney Day" (Endicott, Conway) – 2:26 (Japanese bonus track)
  3. "Unconditional" (video) (Japanese bonus track)
  4. "An Honest Mistake" (video) (Japanese bonus track)

Personnel

Adapted from the album's liner notes.[15]

The Bravery
  • Sam Endicott – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
  • Michael Zakarin – lead guitar, backing vocals
  • John Conway – keyboards, backing vocals
  • Mike Hindert – bass, backing vocals
  • Anthony Burulcich – drums, backing vocals
Additional musicians
  • Steven Lourie – drums on tracks 1-4 and 6-8
  • Joshua Kessler – tambourine on track 10
Production
  • Nic Hard – mixing
  • Brian Gardner – mastering
Artwork
  • Louis Marino – art direction

References

  1. 1 2 "FMQB Airplay Archive: Modern Rock". FMQB. Archived from the original on March 22, 2013. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
  2. ↑ "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. May 21, 2005. p. 27.
  3. ↑ "Billboard charts". Billboard charts. Retrieved September 18, 2010.
  4. ↑ "British charts". zobbel.de. Retrieved September 18, 2010.
  5. 1 2 "The Bravery by The Bravery". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on October 19, 2018. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  6. 1 2 Wilson, MacKenzie. "The Bravery - The Bravery". AllMusic. Archived from the original on March 16, 2021. Retrieved November 24, 2011.
  7. ↑ Peters, Sarah (April 12, 2005). "The Bravery - The Bravery (Island Records)". Lost At Sea. Archived from the original on September 20, 2016. Retrieved September 19, 2016.
  8. ↑ Moody, Paul (September 12, 2005). "The Bravery : The Bravery". NME. IPC Media. Archived from the original on March 2, 2021. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
  9. 1 2 Moerder, Adam (April 19, 2005). "The Bravery: The Bravery". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on January 15, 2021. Retrieved October 28, 2016.
  10. 1 2 Taylor, Nicholas (March 27, 2005). "The Bravery: self-titled". PopMatters. Archived from the original on June 21, 2021. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
  11. 1 2 "CG: Bravery". robertchristgau.com. Robert Christgau. Archived from the original on March 30, 2018. Retrieved November 24, 2011.
  12. ↑ Sheffield, Rob (April 7, 2005). "The Bravery: The Bravery". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. Archived from the original on December 11, 2007. Retrieved November 24, 2011.
  13. 1 2 Sutherland, Steve (March 8, 2005). "The Bravery - The Bravery". Uncut. Time Inc. UK. Archived from the original on June 14, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  14. ↑ Christgau, Robert (2000). "Key to Icons". RobertChristgau.com. Archived from the original on April 25, 2021. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
  15. ↑ The Bravery (booklet). The Bravery. Island. 2005. B000416302.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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