Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	72/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Entertainment Weekly	B+
Los Angeles Times
PopMatters	8/10
Slant Magazine

Rabbits on the Run is the fourth studio album from Vanessa Carlton, released on July 26, 2011, through Razor & Tie.

On October 2, 2010, Vanessa Carlton tweeted that she had completed her fourth studio album. In February 2011, a video was posted to Carlton's official website. In the video, she explained the process for producing her album, and stated that she questioned whether or not she would make another record, as she had been experimenting with writing film scores. She further explained that after deciding to produce another record, Carlton felt she needed to create the ideal environment in order to produce what she felt was the perfect album. She said that she wanted to capture a creepy, honest, dreamy, fantastical sound with 'Rabbits on the Run,' a title and concept inspired by books like Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time, and Richard Adams's Watership Down. In order to achieve that sound, Carlton recorded the album direct to tape and recruited a tight-knit team of collaborators, which included producer Steve Osborne, The Upwelling guitarist Ari Ingber, and My Morning Jacket drummer Patrick Hallahan. She also enlisted the help of a children's choir, namely the Capital Children's Choir, saying that some of her melodies were "just built" for choral arrangements. It was also mentioned in the video that the recording for the album took place in Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios in Box, England, which Carlton considered as the secret "fifth element she needed" to complete the album. The line "rabbits on the run" is from the lyrics of the first single "Carousel".

On March 1, 2011, it was announced that Carlton had signed with Razor & Tie.

On November 10, 2011, it was announced that an EP would be released, titled Hear the Bells. It contains the songs "Do You Hear What I Hear?", "Happy Xmas (War is Over)," as well as acoustic versions of her 2002 single "A Thousand Miles" and "Hear the Bells," the latter of which is featured on Rabbits on the Run.

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