Alpha (Charlotte Day Wilson album)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Alpha | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | July 9, 2021 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 33:12 | |||
| Label | Stone Woman | |||
| Producer |
| |||
| Charlotte Day Wilson chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Alpha | ||||
| ||||
Alpha (stylized in all caps) is the debut studio album by Canadian singer/songwriter Charlotte Day Wilson, released on July 9, 2021, via her independent imprint Stone Woman Music.
The album was preceded by three singles: "Take Care of You" featuring Los Angeles singer/producer Syd was released August 13, 2020 with the non-album b-side "Summertime",[1] while follow-up singles "If I Could"[2] and "Keep Moving"[3] were released May 20 and June 11, 2021, respectively.
After a decade in the music industry, Alpha is Wilson's first full-length album. The album is preceded by three EPs, the latter two which are commercially available.[4] Like her previous work, all of her tracks are written, produced, and released by Wilson and employ collaborations with fellow Toronto-based artists. This included frequent collaborators BadBadNotGood and Daniel Caesar as well as Mustafa and singer Merna Bishouty.
Release and reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 79/100[5] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Clash | 8/10[6] |
| Pitchfork | 7.6/10[7] |
| The Line of Best Fit | 7/10[8] |
Announced in May 2021, the album was released on July 9, 2021, by Wilson and distributed by The Orchard.[9]
Alpha received favorable reviews from contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 79, based on 4 reviews.
Reviewers were particularly complimentary of her voice on the album.[4] At Pitchfork, reviewer Dan Van Nguyen noted, "A sense of spiritual power defines much of Alpha... the body of the artist with the bourbon-soaked lounge-singer shimmer now sounds inhabited by the spirit of a transcendent preacher... yet Day Wilson funnels the evangelism into a focus on the self, always looking inward." Chris Taylor at The Line of Best Fit said, "There's no denying the talent on display across the album. Wilson's voice is a singular one; all at once offering heartache, confusion, hope and growth... Wilson's harmonies take on an almost choral quality where they had once been a whisper."[8]
The album was shortlisted for the 2022 Polaris Music Prize.[10]
The song "Adam Complex" was selected by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to soundtrack the "In Memoriam" segment at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards in 2022.[citation needed]
