Baby (White Hinterland album)

Baby is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Casey Dienel's act White Hinterland, released on April 1, 2014, through Dead Oceans.[1]

Baby
Studio album by
ReleasedApril 1, 2014
GenreArt pop, indie pop
Length47:01
LabelDead Oceans
ProducerCasey Dienel, Alexis Gideon
White Hinterland chronology
Kairos
(2010)
Baby
(2014)

Dienel made the ten-song album in a studio she developed in the basement of her childhood home in Scituate, Massachusetts.[2]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic74/100[3]
Review scores
SourceRating
Rolling Stone     [4]
NME      [5]
Boston GlobeFavorable[6]
AllMusic     [7]
Pitchfork7.2/10[8]

Rolling Stone gave the album three and a half of five stars, noting the vocal range Dienel displays on the album, "singing in operatic quivers, howling yelps, haunting harmonic layers and even full-on vocal fry without showing any seams."[4] NME also gave the album three and a half of five stars, saying Baby's sound took previous influences and created something "warm-blooded, rich and at ease with itself. Something that takes the bits of Mariah – ‘Emotions’, ‘Fantasy’ – that didn’t make you want to kill children and wraps them up in the indie tastes of post-Dirty Projectors America." The review criticized the absence of a hook in places, but said "These are quibbles, though, given how much Dienel seems to be pulling ahead of her overcrowded field."[5] Reviewing the album in the Boston Globe, Marc Hirsch said, Baby "seems to construct itself as it goes, incrementally expanding from the bits and scraps of piano and multi-layered unaccompanied vocals of opener 'Wait Until Dark' and culminating in the rollicking, if skewed, roll of penultimate track 'Sickle No Sword.'"[6]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Casey Dienel

No.TitleLength
1."Wait until Dark"4:31
2."Dry Mind"2:04
3."Ring the Bell"3:37
4."David"5:41
5."Baby"5:14
6."White Noise"3:30
7."Metronome"5:05
8."No Devotion"4:57
9."Sickle No Sword"5:39
10."Live with You"4:29

References

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  1. ^ "Manic" Archived August 25, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Press release on the new album.
  2. ^ "White Hinterland: Boldly Embracing An Evocative Pop Sound". WNYC. April 16, 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2017.
  3. ^ "Baby Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved May 27, 2016.
  4. ^ a b Drell, Cady (April 1, 2014). "Baby". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 17, 2017.
  5. ^ a b "White Hinterland – 'Baby'". NME. Retrieved June 17, 2017.
  6. ^ a b Hirsch, Marc (April 1, 2014). "ALBUM REVIEW: White Hinterland, 'Baby'". Boston Globe. Retrieved June 17, 2017.
  7. ^ Thomas, Fred. "Baby – White Hinterland | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved June 17, 2017.
  8. ^ Mejia, Paula (April 4, 2014). "Baby Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 17, 2017.