When Your Heart Stops Beating | ||
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Studio album by +44 | ||
Released | November 13, 2006 | |
Recorded | April 2005–June 2006 Opra Music (Los Angeles, California) Henson Studios, Ameraycan Recordings (Hollywood, California) |
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Genre | ||
Length | 44:00 | |
Label | Interscope | |
Producer | Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker, Jerry Finn | |
Singles from When Your Heart Stops Beating | ||
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Professional ratings | |
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Aggregate scores | |
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 60/100 |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AbsolutePunk | (83%) |
Allmusic | |
Blender | |
Entertainment Weekly | B+ |
Kerrang! | |
The New York Times | (favorable) |
Rolling Stone | |
The Washington Post | (favorable) |
When Your Heart Stops Beating is the only studio album by the American pop punk band +44. Produced by Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker and co-produced by Jerry Finn, the album was released November 13, 2006 through Interscope Records. Hoppus and Barker, previously the bassist/vocalist and drummer of Blink-182, first created +44 as an experimental electronic outfit following the aforementioned band's dissolution. The project first evolved in the spring of 2005, and the rest of the band—lead guitarist Shane Gallagher and rhythm guitarist Craig Fairbaugh—came together later in the recording process.
Recording began for When Your Heart Stops Beating in earnest shortly after the band's co-founders purchased a Los Angeles-based studio, Opra Music. The electronic demos evolved into more rock-based full-band compositions over the course of the recording process in 2006. Jerry Finn, who had previously worked with Hoppus and Barker extensively with Blink-182, came in the studio late in production to oversee completion. The record's lyric content has been described as dark, and revolves primarily around the demise of Blink-182. Musically, the album is upbeat and is inspired by bands such as The Postal Service and The Cure.
Although anticipated by music press, When Your Heart Stops Beating undersold commercial expectations and received mixed reviews from professional critics. The album's title track, "When Your Heart Stops Beating", was released as lead single and peaked at number 14 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart. +44 embarked on a worldwide touring schedule to support the album and played the 2007 Honda Civic Tour alongside headliner Fall Out Boy. With the 2009 reunion of Blink-182, When Your Heart Stops Beating stands as +44's only studio release to date.