Black Swan | ||||
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Studio album by Athlete | ||||
Released | 24 August 2009 | |||
Recorded | March–June 2009 | |||
Genre | Indie rock, alternative rock, post-Britpop | |||
Length | 44:11 + 22:03 (bonus CD) | |||
Label | Fiction Records | |||
Producer | Tom Rothrock | |||
Athlete chronology | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Aggregate scores | |
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 52/100 |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | |
The Guardian | |
Paste | |
PopMatters | |
Slant Magazine |
Black Swan is the fourth album by English rock band Athlete. released on 24 August 2009 it is their first release with Fiction Records. The album charted in the UK at number 18 on 30 August. The first single lifted from the album, "Superhuman Touch", was released on 17 August 2009 while "The Getaway" is lifted as the first single in the US. "Black Swan Song" proceeded as the second single taken off the record and a UK release of "The Getaway". It was also speculated and mentioned by the band that "Light the Way" was intended for a single release, but was yielded due to the 'Singles:01-10' compilation release.
Joel Pott explained the album title: "We read an article about Nassim Nicholas Taleb and his book The Black Swan. He was saying that our lives are made up of a handful of significant shocks, good or bad. That's exactly how our journey has been over the last six years. We've had lots of unexpected highs and lows, as a band and as people." Black Swan comes from a desire for "getting the songs across as much as we could".
The song "Don't Hold Your Breath" was featured in an episode of Ugly Betty called "Blue On Blue". "The Unknown" was used during the credits of the 2011 film "Soul Surfer".
Black Swan debuted at number 18 on the official UK albums chart.