If I Don't Make It, I Love U

If I Don't Make It, I Love U is the third studio album by British rock band Still House Plants, released on 12 April 2024 through Bison Records.

If I Don't Make It, I Love U
A blurry object in the shape of the number 3.
Studio album by
Still House Plants
Released12 April 2024 (2024-04-12)
Genre
Length46:04
LabelBison
Producer
  • Shaun Crook
  • Darren Clark
Still House Plants chronology
Fast Edit
(2020)
If I Don't Make It, I Love U
(2024)

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.6/10[3]
Metacritic90/100[4]
Review scores
SourceRating
Exclaim!9/10[5]
The Guardian     [1]
Pitchfork8.5/10[2]
The Skinny     [6]

If I Don't Make It, I Love U received a score of 90 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on seven critics' reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[4] Stereogum named it album of the week, with the site's Joshua Minsoo Kim writing that the album "finds the group aiming for a more robust sound" and calling "Sticky" a "tremendous showcase of the band's cohesion".[7] Hayley Scott of The Quietus felt that the band "embrace, not shun, sounds absorbed from childhood in working-class environments" including "skeletal post-rock with soul and jazz, deconstructed by a presiding impulse to blur lines between terms or genres".[8]

Reviewing the album for Exclaim!, Tom Piekarski described it as "an engrossing testament to the musical elasticity and emotional potency of rock music" and "an album both experimental and laid fully bare—the result is one of the best rock records of the year".[5] Ben Beaumont-Thomas of The Guardian called vocalist Jess Hickie-Kallenbach "most astonishing of all [...] singing with more power and confidence than ever before. Her luminously soulful voice is a distinctive instrument, with vibrato that makes whole songs shudder with life". He concluded that Still House Plants are "the most vital band in Britain today, in every sense, and we will be blessed indeed if we get a better album from these shores all year".[1]

The Skinny's Joe Creely remarked that it is "marginally more sonically polished, but loses nothing of their angular charm, if anything bringing out more of the thrashy energy and emotional heft of their live shows".[6] Jenn Pelly of Pitchfork said that the album "still eschews conventional song forms in favor of a kind of collective flickering, with rhythms that speed and slow by their own logic and carry the persistent charge of small epiphanies".[2]

Track listing

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If I Don't Make It, I Love U track listing
No.TitleLength
1."M M M"5:46
2."Pant"2:29
3."Sticky"4:20
4."More Boy"3:47
5."Probably"3:13
6."3scr3w3"3:47
7."Silver Grit Passes Thru My Teeth"5:22
8."Headlight"3:42
9."No Sleep Deep Risk"4:13
10."Pushed"3:08
11."More More Faster"6:17
Total length:46:04

Personnel

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Still House Plants

  • Jess Hickie-Kallenbach – vocals
  • Finlay Clark – guitar
  • David Kennedy – drums

References

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  1. ^ a b c Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (12 April 2024). "Still House Plants: If I Don't Make It, I Love U review – inspiringly fearless and free art rock". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Pelly, Jenn (23 April 2024). "Still House Plants: If I don't make it, I love u Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  3. ^ "If I Don't Make It, I Love U by Still House Plants". AnyDecentMusic. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  4. ^ a b "If I Don't Make It, I Love U by Still House Plants Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  5. ^ a b Piekarski, Tom (12 April 2024). "On If I don't make it, I love u, Still House Plants Make Rock Music Without Limitation". Exclaim!. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  6. ^ a b Creely, Joe (8 April 2024). "Still House Plants – If I don't make it, I love u". The Skinny. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  7. ^ Kim, Joshua Minsoo (9 April 2024). "Album of the Week: Still House Plants If I don't make it, I love u". Stereogum. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  8. ^ Scott, Hayley (12 April 2024). "Still House Plants: If I Don't Make It, I Love U". The Quietus. Retrieved 13 April 2024.