Light After Dark
Encyclopedia
Light After Dark is the debut album by British singer-songwriter Clare Maguire
which went in at number 7 in the UK Albums Chart
. "Ain't Nobody" was released as the first single from the album on 18 October 2010, followed by "The Last Dance
", which was released on 20 February 2011.
the album received an average score of 50 out of 100 based on 12 critical reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews", while Aggregating website AnyDecentMusic?
reports a score of 4.7 based on fifteen professional reviews. John Aizlewood, writing for Q magazine, compliments Clare's vocals on the album, believing them to be "a rich, deep, anguished rumble, hewn from the very depths of her stomach", and notes the album is "not short of songs" either. Bryan Boyd of The Irish Times
noticed that Maguire "eschews r’n’b tics and hip-hop inflections to marry a classic 1960s Dusty-style vocal with modern studio trimmings" and felt that the album "is coming down with elegance, style and promise". Andrew Perry, of The Daily Telegraph
wrote that "contrary to the advance hype, Maguire [...] is hardly the new Kate Bush
, rather a flat-out belter of the Adele
/Florence
school, surrounded variously by daft orchestral sturm-und-drang and flimsy ProTools disco/house", and awarded the album three out of five stars. David Smyth of the Evening Standard
wrote that Maguire's "sound is grandiose, ever-so-slightly Gothic and frequently overwrought" and noticed that "she's in possession of a few fine pop tunes", but "the spectre of Susan Boyle
rears its head when she tones down the backdrop". Ally Carnwath from The Observer
praised her voice but felt that "the songs themselves – a box-checking collection of commercial belters – do her few favours" and criticized the "over-egged production". Jaime Gill of Yahoo! Music
called the album "blustering and oddly emotionally lacking", however he felt that it "has some redeeming features" such as "Maguire's blowy, showy voice".
Lewis G. Parker of BBC Music
wrote that Light After Dark "is just the latest CD to keep in the car for the drive home after a hard day at the office"; he called the songs "unadventurous", the lyrics "so vague [...] that they can be interpreted to mean whatever we like" and stated that it "communicates nothing other than a total lack of imagination". Michael Hann of The Guardian
praised Maguire's voice, however he noted that she is "another startling talent whose every point of interest has been sandblasted off between being signed and getting her album out". Andy Gill from The Independent
wrote that "over the course of an album her tremulous, stentorian con-tralto becomes hectoring" and noticed that "at full blast, she has the emotive subtlety of a foghorn". He concluded by saying that "a more restrained approach might expose her sensitivities". Krystina Nellis from Drowned in Sound
gave a negative review, saying that "the album’s fundamental fault is that none of it feels like it is coming from the girl herself"; she went on to add that "the vague ‘empowerment’ lyrics are so full of clichéd clangers they actually age Maguire several years, and reduce her to sounding like little more than a session singer for hire" and eventually described the album as "uninteresting". Laura Snapes of NME
was equally negative; she wrote that the album contains "12 songs eruditely critiquing social plight with Viz-level wit", criticized Maguire's "gratingly wannabe-adult voice" and concluded by stating that the album's "central failing is having a woman roughly the same age as Katy B
singing songs that’d sound a bit sexless at a WI Christmas party".
Clare Maguire
Clare Rita Mary Maguire is a British singer-songwriter. She was signed to Universal Music Group Polydor Records in 2008. She was rated in fifth place in the BBC Sound of 2011 list of the top 15 most promising new artists. Maguire was also singled out as one of MTV's Brand New: For 2011 Acts...
which went in at number 7 in the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
. "Ain't Nobody" was released as the first single from the album on 18 October 2010, followed by "The Last Dance
The Last Dance (Clare Maguire song)
"The Last Dance" is the second single by English singer-songwriter Clare Maguire, released from her debut album Light After Dark. It was released in the United Kingdom on 20 February 2011 through Polydor Records.-Music video:...
", which was released on 20 February 2011.
Composition
Maguire worked solely with producer and songwriter Fraser T Smith, with the exception of "Freedom" which was produced by German producer Crada and songwriting team Parallel. The iTunes pre-order track "Burn" was produced by Starsmith.Artwork
The artwork premiered on Maguire's Facebook page on 7 February 2011. She announced the artwork was shot by photographer Aitken Jolly.Critical reception
Light After Dark received generally mixed reviews from music critics. At MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
the album received an average score of 50 out of 100 based on 12 critical reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews", while Aggregating website AnyDecentMusic?
AnyDecentMusic?
AnyDecentMusic? is a website that collates reviews of contemporary music albums, covering rock, pop, electronic, dance, folk, country, roots and urban...
reports a score of 4.7 based on fifteen professional reviews. John Aizlewood, writing for Q magazine, compliments Clare's vocals on the album, believing them to be "a rich, deep, anguished rumble, hewn from the very depths of her stomach", and notes the album is "not short of songs" either. Bryan Boyd of The Irish Times
The Irish Times
The Irish Times is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Kevin O'Sullivan who succeeded Geraldine Kennedy in 2011; the deputy editor is Paul O'Neill. The Irish Times is considered to be Ireland's newspaper of record, and is published every day except Sundays...
noticed that Maguire "eschews r’n’b tics and hip-hop inflections to marry a classic 1960s Dusty-style vocal with modern studio trimmings" and felt that the album "is coming down with elegance, style and promise". Andrew Perry, of The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
wrote that "contrary to the advance hype, Maguire [...] is hardly the new Kate Bush
Kate Bush
Kate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...
, rather a flat-out belter of the Adele
Adele (singer)
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins , known professionally as Adele, is an English singer-songwriter. She was the first recipient of the Brit Awards Critics' Choice and was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2008 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2008...
/Florence
Florence and the Machine
Florence and the Machine is the recording name of English musician Florence Welch and a collaboration of other artists who provide music for her voice. Florence and the Machine's sound has been described as a combination of various genres, including rock and soul...
school, surrounded variously by daft orchestral sturm-und-drang and flimsy ProTools disco/house", and awarded the album three out of five stars. David Smyth of the Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
wrote that Maguire's "sound is grandiose, ever-so-slightly Gothic and frequently overwrought" and noticed that "she's in possession of a few fine pop tunes", but "the spectre of Susan Boyle
Susan Boyle
Susan Magdalane Boyle is a Scottish singer who came to international public attention when she appeared as a contestant on the TV programme Britain's Got Talent on 11 April 2009, singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from ...
rears its head when she tones down the backdrop". Ally Carnwath from The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
praised her voice but felt that "the songs themselves – a box-checking collection of commercial belters – do her few favours" and criticized the "over-egged production". Jaime Gill of Yahoo! Music
Yahoo! Music
Yahoo! Music, owned by Yahoo!, is the provider of a variety of music services, including Internet radio, music videos, news, artist information, and original programming...
called the album "blustering and oddly emotionally lacking", however he felt that it "has some redeeming features" such as "Maguire's blowy, showy voice".
Lewis G. Parker of BBC Music
BBC Music
BBC Music is a team working in the department of Audio and Music Interactive at the BBC. Responsible for the BBC Music website - the portal site to music content across the BBC website....
wrote that Light After Dark "is just the latest CD to keep in the car for the drive home after a hard day at the office"; he called the songs "unadventurous", the lyrics "so vague [...] that they can be interpreted to mean whatever we like" and stated that it "communicates nothing other than a total lack of imagination". Michael Hann of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
praised Maguire's voice, however he noted that she is "another startling talent whose every point of interest has been sandblasted off between being signed and getting her album out". Andy Gill from The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
wrote that "over the course of an album her tremulous, stentorian con-tralto becomes hectoring" and noticed that "at full blast, she has the emotive subtlety of a foghorn". He concluded by saying that "a more restrained approach might expose her sensitivities". Krystina Nellis from Drowned in Sound
Drowned in Sound
DrownedinSound.com or DiS is a UK based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway . The site is an editorially independent music website.-History:...
gave a negative review, saying that "the album’s fundamental fault is that none of it feels like it is coming from the girl herself"; she went on to add that "the vague ‘empowerment’ lyrics are so full of clichéd clangers they actually age Maguire several years, and reduce her to sounding like little more than a session singer for hire" and eventually described the album as "uninteresting". Laura Snapes of NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
was equally negative; she wrote that the album contains "12 songs eruditely critiquing social plight with Viz-level wit", criticized Maguire's "gratingly wannabe-adult voice" and concluded by stating that the album's "central failing is having a woman roughly the same age as Katy B
Katy B
Kathleen "Katie" Brien, better known as Katy B, is an English singer-songwriter and a graduate of the BRIT School. She is a dubstep, R&B, funky, house and UK garage singer and has also performed under the name Baby Katy. She was born in Peckham, South London...
singing songs that’d sound a bit sexless at a WI Christmas party".
Singles
- "Ain't Nobody" was the first single from the album, released as a digital download on 17 October 2010; it peaked at number 78 in the UK Singles ChartUK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. A music video was uploaded at YoutubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
on September 8, 2010. It has reached over 550,000 views.
- "The Last DanceThe Last Dance (Clare Maguire song)"The Last Dance" is the second single by English singer-songwriter Clare Maguire, released from her debut album Light After Dark. It was released in the United Kingdom on 20 February 2011 through Polydor Records.-Music video:...
", the second single from the album, was released on 20 February 2010 as a digital download, and 21 February as a physical release; it has reached number 23 in the UK Singles Chart.
- "The Shield and the SwordThe Shield and the Sword"The Shield and the Sword" is the third single by English singer-songwriter Clare Maguire, taken from her debut album Light After Dark. It was released in the United Kingdom on 9 May 2011 through Polydor Records.-Live performances:...
" was announced as the third single from the album on twitter (9 March 2011).
Track listing
As well as premiering the artwork for the album, Maguire also announced the tracklisting for the album.Charts and release history
The album entered the Official UK Album Chart at Number 7. It spent a total of 5 weeks in the top 100 since its release.Charts
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically... |
34 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
7 |
| Polish Albums Chart Polish Music Charts The Polish Music Charts are two official album charts and seven singles charts in Poland, provided by ZPAV, the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry . The first, the Top 100, is a monthly chart based on data received from the album companies... |
57 |
| Scottish Albums Chart | 6 |
Release history
| Region | Date | Label |
|---|---|---|
| Ireland | 24 February 2011 | Polydor |
| United Kingdom | 28 February 2011 | Polydor |
| United States | 7 June 2011 | Universal Republic |