Out of Nothing
Out of Nothing is the fourth studio album by English rock band Embrace. It was released on 13 September 2004 through the label Independiente. Following the release of their third studio album If You've Never Been, the band were dropped by Hut Records; around this time, the general public had lost interest in them. After signing to Independiente, they took time working on new material, until early 2004, when they recorded their next album at Olympic Studios in London with producer Martin "Youth" Glover. Out of Nothing is an indie rock album that drew comparison to the works of Coldplay and Keane.
"Gravity" was released as the lead single from Out of Nothing in August 2004; shortly afterwards, Embrace went on a tour of the United Kingdom. "Ashes" appeared as the album's second single in November 2004 in the midst of another UK tour. In the early months of 2005, the band toured the UK a third time, "Looking as You Are" was released as the third single from the album in February 2005, and they played their first-ever shows in the United States. They held two shows at the Millennium Square in Leeds, dubbed A Glorious Day, in May 2005; coinciding with this, "A Glorious Day" was released as the album's fourth and final single.
Out of Nothing received generally favourable reviews from critics, many of whom praised the high-quality songwriting, while others felt it sounded uninspired. It topped the album charts in both Scotland and the UK, while also charting in Germany and Ireland. The album was certified gold a few days after its release, and has been certified double platinum as of 2021. All of the album's singles reached the top 30 in the UK, and the top 10 in the Scotland; "Gravity" peaked the highest in both territories, with number two in Scotland and number seven in the UK. Stylus Magazine included Out of Nothing on their list of the best albums from the year.
Background
Embrace released their third studio album, If You've Never Been, in September 2001 through Hut, Virgin Records and the band's own label Mobetta. It peaked at number nine in the UK Albums Chart; its two singles, "Wonder" and "Make It Last", both reached the top of the UK Singles Chart. Despite this, the band were dropped from the roster by Hut and Virgin Records less than a month later. The band promoted the album with a tour of the United Kingdom at the end of the year, with a shorter UK tour following in early 2002. While making If You've Never Been, frontman Danny McNamara said they had gathered enough material that they were considering releasing its follow-up in early 2002. In between the two UK tours, the band spent some time recording new material.Hut Records released the band's first compilation album, Fireworks: The Singles 1997–2002, in March 2002; McNamara explained: "I see the next phase of Embrace as being quite separate and different from what the band has done up until now and this album is us signing-off on the past". Cam Lindsay of Exclaim! wrote that the career of acts hyped up by the Britpop and post-Britpop scenes was "so short it left many bands and their second albums for dead". He acknowledged that while Embrace had made a third album, the general music-buying "public had lost interest in their melodramatic epic rock and moved on". As a result, Fireworks: The Singles 1997–2002 ended up reaching number 36 in the UK.
New label and recording
In March 2002, the band publicly revealed they had left Hut and Virgin to sign with the label Independiente. After leaving Hut, some of the members were forced to get day jobs. McNamara said label chairman Andy MacDonald was a fan of theirs and had seen them a few times prior. McNamara mentioned that he had been spending sometime in London writing material while the other members were building a recording studio, and that they were aiming to release a new single later in the year. According to McNamara, MacDonald told the band he was impressed with their live performances and that they had high-quality songwriting but had "never made a classic album", which was something he wanted for the label. He was content with them taking as long as they wanted for as much money as they needed.Drummer Mike Heaton said they did not have the means of writing songs in peace previously, often feeling stressed while out touring. In December 2003, the band played a few shows under the moniker the Good Good People; McNamara explained that he had spent the "last two years doing nothing but writing songs". At MacDonald's suggestion, they worked with producer Martin "Youth" Glover, with whom they previously worked with earlier in their career. Bassist Steve Firth said by this point, they had grown accustomed to outside opinions, something they used to block out, allowing for an easier process when working with Youth. After New Years Day 2004, the band began recording at Olympic Studios in London.
Clive Goddard served as engineer, while Paul "P Dub" Walton recorded the strings; they were assisted by Phillipe Rose, Sam Miller and Bea Kenkel. McNamara said Youth "broke us into pieces, and then re-built us as a new band almost", expressing interest in wanting him for their next album. While in the mixing process, the band were offered the song "Gravity" by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. As the process was almost done, they had disregarded the suggestion as guitarist Richard McNamara said they "had so much faith in what we’d already recorded, the potential backlash just didn’t seem necessary". After an evening of contemplation, they decided to use the song. Heaton had to do some post-production work on "Looking as You Are" as they had recorded the song at the wrong tempo, prompting them to slow the track's speed down without sacrificing the quality of the recording. Goddard mixed the recordings, before the album was mastered by George Marino at Sterling sound in New York.
Composition and lyrics
Overview
Musically, the sound of Out of Nothing has been described as indie rock. The Guardian writer Dorian Lynskey said in a "revisionist twist are being spoken of not as post-Oasis stragglers but as big-hearted forbears of Keane and Coldplay". Adam Knott of Sputnikmusic said the guitars aim for the "rafters of packed arenas, layered and interesting but never dense enough for their effect to become masked", while the piano parts "max out the heart, whether that be in search of a massive crescendo or a gentle introduction". Gareth Jones contributed programming across the album's songs. Wil Malone served as orchestra leader and wrote the majority of the string arrangements, bar the ones for "Someday" and "Spell It Out", which were done by keyboardist Mickey Dale.Malone was brought in by Youth, while the rest of the band wanted Dale to arrange the strings. Will Jackson provided additional material for the string sections, which were performed by the London Session Orchestra. Over a period of three years, Embrace accumulated over 500 songs that were eventually pared down to 15. This was cut down again to 10, and then one song, "Everytime That I See Your Face", was dropped in favour of "Gravity". Close to the end of the recording sessions, they jammed material as a unit for an hour at the encouragement of Youth, resulting in two songs, namely "Near Life" and "Out of Nothing". Discussing the album's title, Danny McNamara said it was a "little bit of lets get together, and not be fazed by it, because at one point, that's all we had - was ourselves, and our belief in ourselves and in each other".
Tracks
Out of Nothing opens with the pop rock song "Ashes", which Pitchfork reviewer Sam Ubl said "captures the feel of post-personal disaster perspective-shift", and was compared to "Pounding" by Doves. Before it was recorded, the chorus section of "Ashes" was the only part Danny McNamara had for three years, until Richard McNamara wrote the verse sections. Danny McNamara initially had an argument with Youth on how the song should be, having originally been intended as a gentle ballad akin to "Fireworks" from their debut studio album The Good Will Out, which Youth changed into an anthemic song with a disco beat. The band edited down the song's long outro section, despite Youth's insistence on retaining it."Gravity" was written by the members of Coldplay; Martin became friends with McNamara a few years prior when Embrace help Coldplay before they became famous. When Coldplay wrote "Gravity", Martin thought the song "sounded far too much like them for us, so I asked Danny if he wanted the song and that was that". McNamara said he had heard Coldplay perform the song sometime prior and liked it, but thought nothing else of it until Martin offered it. musicOMH writer John Murphy said Embrace took the "melancholic piano sound of Mr Martin’s lot and push it through the Embrace emotional mincer", coming across in the style of "Imagine" by John Lennon and material from Coldplay's debut album Parachutes.
"Someday" is a gospel rock track; the song, which McNamara wrote, dated back to 1995, but lacked a chorus section. Its chorus was taken from a demo of different song, "How Do You Like to Fly", that Richard McNamara wrote. Danny McNamara wrote "Looking as You Are" about a woman that was "spending her last night with the guy before me". Richard McNamara described the song as Mercury Rev-like vocals over a guitar riff styled after "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears. "Wish 'Em All Away" is a power ballad that features a harmonica, evoking the sound of Oasis and Travis. When Dale heard it, he asked the band if they were attempting to recreate the sound of Harvest by Neil Young, which Youth thought was a good idea.
"Keeping" is a love song about an ex-partner that PopMatters Michael Franco said starts off with a "recurring instrumental melody, then builds to a lofty chorus, spacious guitars, and really pretty crescendos", which he felt also described the following track, "Spell It Out". The latter was originally named "Pocket to the Sun" and written by Richard McNamara on a piano, which Dale thought it was similar to the work of the Flaming Lips. "A Glorious Day" is a ballad that also recalls Oasis; Youth had unsuccessfully tried to get the band to perform it in the style of McFly. Embrace wanted the piano in the song to sound similar to the damaged piano at McNamara's house, prompting them to visit piano shops across London, and renting an upright piano. "Near Life" is a made of various jam sessions and vocal takes stitched together. The album concludes with the piano-centric "Out of Nothing", an experimental and atmospheric song with elements of Sigur Rós. Dale said the outro was inspired by post-rock acts, like Explosions in the Sky and Mogwai, that Youth had recommended.