Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	58/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic (Jon O'Brien)
Drowned in Sound (Robert Leedham)	(4/10)
The Independent (Andy Gill)
Mojo
musicOMH (Ben Hogwood)
Pitchfork (Ian Cohen)	(3.7/10)
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The Lateness of the Hour is the debut studio album by British singer Alex Clare. It was released on 8 July 2011 by Island Records. The album peaked at number 17 on the UK Albums Chart, number 8 on the German Albums Chart and number 48 on the US Billboard 200. The album includes the singles "Up All Night", "Too Close" and "Treading Water".

All the songs on the album apart from a cover of Prince's "When Doves Cry" were co-written by Alex Clare. Most of these songs were about his personal relationships. According to Clare, they came from "a combination of lots of different situations I’ve been in with unrequited love or love that's gone terribly wrong." "Too Close" for example was inspired by a particular relationship with a close friend that turned romantic but "didn't really work out and that felt too close." Other album tracks like "Whispering" and "Tight Rope" were inspired by his childhood surroundings as well as his love for literature.

The album was released in the UK in 2011, but sold poorly initially and Clare was effectively dropped from his label. A month after he was dropped, he was contacted for permission to use a song from the album, "Too Close", in an advertising campaign for Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9. The advertising campaign propelled the song up the chart, and soon after, Universal Republic Records signed Clare to a distribution deal that allowed The Lateness of the Hour to be rush-released in America on iTunes on 24 March 2012.

After Alex Clare signed with Island Records, he teamed up with Diplo and Switch (Major Lazer) in 2010 to collaborate on his debut album. The recording of the album took about 10 weeks in total, working around the Diplo's tour schedule. It was first recorded in New Orleans, then later in the year in Jamaica and eventually five weeks in Los Angeles.

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