Raw Data Feel is the sixth studio album by British band Everything Everything, released on 20 May 2022 through Infinity Industries, the band's own imprint.[10] The album was produced by the band's guitarist Alex Robertshaw and Tom A.D. Fuller,[10] and its release was preceded by the singles "Bad Friday" (7 February),[11] "Teletype" (9 March),[12] "I Want a Love Like This" (28 March)[13] and "Pizza Boy" (4 May).[14] On 27 May 2022, The album reached #4 in the UK Album Charts, their highest-charting release to date. The album's creation was inspired by the band's experiences with artificial intelligence, which was employed to help provide ideas for song lyrics as well as the album's artwork.

Raw Data Feel
Studio album by
Released20 May 2022
Recorded2021
Studio
Length54:06
Label
  • Infinity Industries
  • AWAL
Producer
Everything Everything chronology
Re-Animator
(2020)
Raw Data Feel
(2022)
Mountainhead
(2024)
Singles from Raw Data Feel
  1. "Bad Friday"
    Released: 7 February 2022
  2. "Teletype"
    Released: 9 March 2022
  3. "I Want a Love Like This"
    Released: 28 March 2022
  4. "Pizza Boy"
    Released: 4 May 2022
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic75/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
DIY[2]
The Line of Best Fit9/10[3]
MusicOMH[4]
NME
Pitchfork4.8/10[5]
Record Collector[6]
The Skinny[7]
The Telegraph[8]
Under the Radar8.5/10[9]

Themes

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The songs on Raw Data Feel deal with the theme of experiencing trauma and relying on technology to cope with it. Feeling constrained by his reputation as a "political singer" and wanting to "abandon the human brain", frontman and lead songwriter Jonathan Higgs envisioned a more inward, less sociopolitical approach by using characters to play the experience out.

With assistance from Mark Hanslip, a musician and researcher at the University of York's Contemporary Music Research Centre,[15] Higgs developed an AI bot dubbed "Kevin", named after a recurring character in the album, to compose song lyrics generatively. Higgs fed it four different sources of information—LinkedIn's terms and conditions, the epic poem Beowulf, 400,000 posts from the message board 4chan, and the sayings of Confucius—before compiling and tweaking the results into usable material.[16] Ultimately, the bot contributed roughly 5% of the album's lyrics and a song title ("Software Greatman"), receiving a songwriting credit in the process, and has also provided the imagery for the album's artwork and promotional campaign.[15]

The band described the album's sound as "vivid, bright and spontaneous" and their "most natural and impulsive work".

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Jonathan Higgs, Alex Robertshaw, Jeremy Pritchard, and Michael Spearman, with lyrics by Higgs and "Kevin".

Raw Data Feel track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Teletype"3:40
2."I Want a Love Like This"3:27
3."Bad Friday"3:11
4."Pizza Boy"3:32
5."Jennifer"4:17
6."Metroland Is Burning"3:44
7."Leviathan"5:20
8."Shark Week"3:34
9."Cut Up!"3:23
10."Hex"2:43
11."My Computer"3:06
12."Kevin's Car"4:02
13."Born Under a Meteor"4:02
14."Software Greatman"6:05
Total length:54:06

Personnel

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Everything Everything

Additional contributors

  • Tom A.D. – production, engineering
  • Frank Arkwright – mastering
  • Cenzo Townshendmixing
  • Camden Clarke – mixing assistance
  • Jan Ashwell – mixing assistance
  • Henry Broadhead – engineering assistance
  • Martin King – engineering assistance
  • "Kevin" – art
  • Charlotte Audrey – design
  • Jonny Costello – design

Charts

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Chart performance for Raw Data Feel
Chart (2022) Peak
position
Scottish Albums (OCC)[17] 4
UK Albums (OCC)[18] 4
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[19] 1

Notes

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  1. ^ Credited as Kaines.

References

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  1. ^ "Raw Data Feel by Everything Everything Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  2. ^ Dixon, Louisa (18 May 2022). "EVERYTHING EVERYTHING - RAW DATA FEEL". DIY. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  3. ^ Bray, Jack (20 May 2022). "Everything Everything remain peerless with the excellent Raw Data Feel". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  4. ^ Hogwood, Ben (23 May 2022). "Everything Everything – Raw Data Feel". musicOMH. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  5. ^ Madden, Emma (1 June 2022). "Everything Everything: Raw Data Feel Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  6. ^ Curran, Shaun (23 May 2022). "Raw Data Feel - Record Collector Magazine". Record Collector. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  7. ^ Sully, George (16 May 2022). "Everything Everything album review: Raw Data Feel - The Skinny". The Skinny. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  8. ^ Platt, Poppie (20 May 2022). "Dave Stewart doffs his cap to the greats, Lykke Li is done with heartbreak – the week's best albums". The Telegraph. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  9. ^ O'Malley, Gareth (6 July 2022). "Everything Everything: Raw Data Feel". Under the Radar. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  10. ^ a b "Everything Everything - RAW DATA FEEL" – via www.banquetrecords.com.
  11. ^ "Everything Everything - Bad Friday". everythingeverything.ffm.to.
  12. ^ "Everything Everything - Teletype". everythingeverything.ffm.to.
  13. ^ "Everything Everything - I Want A Love Like This". everythingeverything.ffm.to.
  14. ^ "Everything Everything - Pizza Boy". everythingeverything.ffm.to.
  15. ^ a b "'It feels like a fresh start': why Everything Everything turned to AI to write their new album". the Guardian. 18 February 2022.
  16. ^ Ackroyd, Stephen (7 February 2022). "Everything Everything on their AI-powered new album 'Raw Data Feel': "I didn't want to sing about the same shit anymore | Dork". readdork.com.
  17. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  18. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  19. ^ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 28 May 2022.