Given to the Wild is the third studio album by English indie rock band the Maccabees. The album was first released in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2012, where it debuted at number four on the UK Albums Chart and number thirty-one on the Irish Albums Chart. The album has seen four single releases: "Pelican", "Feel to Follow", "Went Away", and "Ayla".
Reception The album has a Metascore of 69 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 20 critic reviews, stating that the album has "generally favourable reviews". NME gave the album a 9/10. The album was nominated for the 2012 Mercury Prize.
Recording The band worked on the 13-track album, their third, at Rockfield Studios with Tim Goldsworthy and Bruno Ellingham (LCD Soundsystem, Massive Attack) over late 2010 to 2011. They also worked on large parts of the record with producer Jag Jago at their rehearsal space in London's Elephant and Castle district before decamping to Suffolk to finish the record at Decoy Studios with Cenzo Townshend and Sean Julliard.
The band have said they took inspiration from "disparate musical peers" such as the Stone Roses, Kate Bush and David Bowie during the recording of the LP, which is the follow-up to 2009's Wall of Arms.
Speaking about the title of the album, singer Orlando Weeks told the NME: "'Given to the wild' is the first line on the album and was a title idea we had pretty early on. But it wasn't until we'd finished recording that we could come back to it and know that it suited, it just felt right."
Singles "Pelican" was released as the album's lead single on 30 December 2011. The song entered the UK Singles Chart at number 87. It appeared in the video game Forza Horizon. "Feel to Follow" was released on 3 February 2012. The song peaked to number 188 on the UK Singles Chart. "Went Away", the third single from Given to the Wild, was released on 28 May 2012. "Ayla" was the fourth single to be released on 10 September 2012.
Track listing Track listing adapted from Spotify.
Credits Credits adapted from Tidal.
The Maccabees Orlando Weeks – vocals , guitar Felix White – guitar Hugo White – guitar Rupert Jarvis – bass guitar Sam Doyle - drums
Technical Felix White – production Hugo White – production Orlando Weeks – production Rupert Jarvis – production Sam Doyle – production Bruno Ellingham , recording engineer Tim Goldsworthy , recording engineer Prabjote Osahn - recording engineer Tom Dalgety - assistant recording engineer John Davis - mastering engineer Sean Juilliard - assistant engineer Cenzo Townshend - mixer
Additional musicians Jack Birchwood - horn Nick Carter - horn Tom Stone - horn Darren Morris - piano Will White - keyboards Prabjote Osahn - string arranger , violin
Artwork Andy Goldsworthy – cover photo Go De Jong – design, layout Tom Oxley - inlay photography
Chart performance On 12 January 2012, Given to the Wild entered the Irish Albums Chart at number 31. Chart (2012) Peakposition Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders) 92 Dutch Albums Chart 57 Irish Albums Chart 31 UK Albums Chart 4
References