''Anxiety Replacement Therapy'' is the fifth studio album by English

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...

band the Lottery Winners, released on 28 April 2023 through Modern Sky UK. It includes collaborations with

Shaun Ryder Shaun William George Ryder (born 23 August 1962) is an English singer, songwriter and poet. As lead singer of Happy Mondays, he was a leading figure in the Madchester cultural scene during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1993, he formed Bl ...

Frank Turner Francis Edward Turner (born 28 December 1981) is an English Punk rock, punk and Folk music, folk singer-songwriter from Meonstoke, Hampshire. He began his career as the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, then embarked upon a primaril ...

and

Boy George George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer-songwriter and DJ who rose to fame as the lead singer of the pop band Culture Club. He began his solo career in 1987. Boy George grew up in Eltham a ...

, as well as three spoken word interludes performed by the actor

Stephen Fry Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of ...

. The collaboration with George, "Let Me Down", was also released as a single. The band embarked on a tour throughout April through to mid-2023 in support of the album.

Background

The album was written by the band's lead vocalist Thom Rylance about his struggles with his mental health, following a year in his life. "Worry" was written by Rylance when he felt at his lowest; he stated that "Writing songs releases those dark emotions, so it's healthy for me."

Critical reception

Alex Green of the ''

Belfast Telegraph The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media, which also publishes the Irish Independent, the Sunday Independent and various other newspapers and magazines in Ireland. Its e ...

'' called the album a "star-studded affair" on account of its collaborations, and wrote that it "goes for the jugular with anthemic choruses and a maximalist indie rock palate". Green concluded that while "the album is redolent of the lad rock of Hard-Fi and the blissed out pop of

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", its tracks "are delivered with enough energy and passion to make them worth your time". ''Retro Pop Magazine'' described ''Anxiety Replacement Therapy'' as "loud and bombastic; a guise for the thinly-veiled lyrical content that speaks openly on various stages of mental illness, from depression and stress to reclusiveness and obsessiveness", as well as "intrinsically personal yet speaks to a range of emotions that have become a part of everyday living for many, for a finely-crafted collection of commercial hits that pack a meaningful punch".

Commercial performance

The album was highly publicised on the band's social media platforms with fans being urged to buy multiple copies, formats and versions. ''Anxiety Replacement Therapy'' was placed at number one on the midweek

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

dated 1 May 2023, a position it kept over the week, making it the band's first top 10 and number one album. The album was released in 25 different formats, including 12 different CD versions, six vinyl LPs and five cassettes, which was not as many as the 32 formats that The Reytons' '' What's Rock and Roll?'' album came in, though The Lottery Winners' album sold more in one week, registering 22,209 sales, a total which was more than all their other album's sales combined.

Track listing

Charts

References

{{reflist 2023 albums The Lottery Winners albums