Ritual Union is the third studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by Swedish electronic

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

 band Little Dragon

Little Dragon

Little Dragon are a Swedish electronic band, formed in Gothenburg in 1996. It consists of Swedish-Japanese singer Yukimi Nagano and her close high school friends Erik Bodin , Fredrik Källgren Wallin and Håkan Wirenstrand .Little Dragon's first release was the double A-side 7" single...

. It was released on 25 July 2011 by Peacefrog Records

Peacefrog Records

Peacefrog Records are an independent record label based in London, United Kingdom. The label produces releases in many different styles of electronic music as well as branching out into folk and indie artists such as José González and Nouvelle Vague. Started by Pete Hutchison and Paul Ballard in...

. The album debuted at number twenty-two on 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...

 and number seventy-eight on the US Billboard 200

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

, their highest-charting album to date. The album's second single, "Ritual Union", reached number seventy-six on the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The 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 ...

. Upon its release, Ritual Union received generally positive reviews from most music critics. The song "Shuffle a Dream" was featured in the fifth season

Gossip Girl (season 5)

The fifth season of Gossip Girl, an American teen drama based upon the book series by Cecily von Ziegesar and developed for television by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage...

 premiere episode of Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl is an American young adult novel series written by Cecily von Ziegesar and published by Little, Brown and Company, a subsidiary of the Hachette Group. The series revolves around the lives and romances of the privileged teenagers at the Constance Billard School for Girls, an elite...

, "Yes, Then Zero", originally aired 26 September 2011.

Album cover

The album cover features a montage of newly married couples. Those photographed are rumoured to be family members of those within the band.

Music videos

An animated video was released for "When I Go Out". Little Dragon's official Twitter

Twitter

Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...

 page posted, "Our -When I Go Out video is By Italian artist Emanuel Kabu! Love all his work! psychedelic breeze...surreal iz the new normal!"

Preview

"Nightlight" was released on 25 March 2011 as a streaming single, accompanying a press release. "Ritual Union" was played on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon on NBC. The show premiered on March 2, 2009, as the third incarnation of the Late Night franchise originated by David Letterman....

days previous to this, while "Little Man" and "Summertearz" were previewed throughout Little Dragon's 2010 and 2011 touring.

Track listing

All songs written by Little Dragon.

1. "Ritual Union" – 3:30
2. "Little Man" – 2:41
3. "Brush the Heat" – 4:10
4. "Shuffle a Dream" – 2:58
5. "Please Turn" – 3:34
6. "Crystalfilm" – 4:49
7. "Precious" – 3:51
8. "Nightlight" – 3:25
9. "Summertearz" – 3:50
10. "When I Go Out" – 5:59
11. "Seconds" – 4:30

Charts

Chart (2011)	Peak position
Australian Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...	91
Swedish Albums Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association ....	47
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...	22
US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...	78
US Dance/Electronic Albums	4
US Independent Albums Independent Albums The Billboard Independent Albums is a chart of the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays in the United States, compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is used to list artists who are not signed to major labels...	12

Release history

Country	Date	Label
Netherlands	21 July 2011	Century Media Records Century Media Records Century Media Records is an Independent record label with offices in the United States, Germany, Australia, France, Italy, Sweden, Finland, and the United Kingdom.- Background :...
Germany	22 July 2011	Peacefrog Records Peacefrog Records Peacefrog Records are an independent record label based in London, United Kingdom. The label produces releases in many different styles of electronic music as well as branching out into folk and indie artists such as José González and Nouvelle Vague. Started by Pete Hutchison and Paul Ballard in...
Ireland
United Kingdom	25 July 2011
United States	26 July 2011
Sweden	27 July 2011
Australia	29 July 2011
France	5 September 2011	EMI EMI The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...