Given to the Wild


Given to the Wild is the third studio album by English indie rock band the Maccabees. The album was first released in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2012, where it debuted at number four on the UK Albums Chart and number thirty-one on the Irish Albums Chart. The album has seen four single releases: "Pelican", "Feel to Follow", "Went Away", and "Ayla".

Reception

Metacritic has calculated a Metascore of 69 out of 100 for the album, based on 20 reviews, giving the album "generally favourable reviews". NME gave the album a 9/10.
The album was nominated for the 2012 Mercury Prize.

Recording

The band worked on the 13-track album, their third, at Rockfield Studios with Tim Goldsworthy and Bruno Ellingham over late 2010 to 2011. They also worked on large parts of the record with producer Jag Jago at their rehearsal space in London's Elephant and Castle district before decamping to Suffolk to finish the record at Decoy Studios with Cenzo Townshend and Sean Julliard.
The band have said they took inspiration from "disparate musical peers" such as the Stone Roses, Kate Bush and David Bowie during the recording of the LP, which is the follow-up to 2009's Wall of Arms.
Speaking about the title of the album, singer Orlando Weeks told the NME:
"'Given to the wild' is the first line on the album and was a title idea we had pretty early on. But it wasn't until we'd finished recording that we could come back to it and know that it suited, it just felt right."

Singles

Track listing

All tracks are written by The Maccabees.

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal.
The Maccabees
Technical
Additional musicians
  • Jack Birchwood - horn
  • Nick Carter - horn
  • Tom Stone - horn
  • Darren Morris - piano
  • Will White - keyboards
  • Prabjote Osahn - string arranger, violin
Artwork

Chart performance

On 12 January 2012 Given to the Wild entered the Irish Albums Chart at number 31.
Chart Peak
position
Belgian Albums Chart 92
Dutch Albums Chart57
Irish Albums Chart31
UK Albums Chart4