''Brutal Romantic'' is the fourth studio album by New Zealand singer-songwriter

Brooke Fraser Brooke Gabrielle Ligertwood (née Fraser; born 15 December 1983) is a New Zealand singer and songwriter. She uses both her maiden and married names professionally. After signing with Sony BMG in 2002, she gained recognition for her debut album, ...

. It was released on 18 November 2014 in Australia, New Zealand, North America and Asia, and in Spring 2015 in Europe. It was produced by Fraser and David Kosten. It was recorded at Kosten's West London studio, and the orchestral parts were recorded at the legendary

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...

. The album's first track "Psychosocial" was released 13 August 2014 as a taster track ahead of the album's first single "Kings & Queens", which was sent to radio 23 September 2014.

Track listing

Personnel

* Brooke Fraser – vocals, keyboards (1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10), programming (1, 10), acoustic piano (2-7), guitars (2, 5) * David Kosten – synthesizers, programming, percussion (2, 4, 5) * Matt Hales – additional programming (2) * Ryan Taubert – additional programming (4) * Dan Wilson – keyboards (8) * Tobias Fröberg – synthesizers (9), guitars (9) *

Kid Harpoon Thomas Edward Percy Hull (born 20 April 1982), known professionally as Kid Harpoon, is a British songwriter, record producer, and musician. In 2023, he won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and the Brit Award for Songwriter of the Year for ...

– guitars (7) * James Ahwai – bass (2, 4, 5, 10) * Jason Cooper – drums (4, 6, 7) * IDMC Choir – choir (1, 7) * John Fisher – choirmaster (1, 7) *

Joel Pott Joel Laslett Pott (born 20 January 1979 in Spilsby, Lincolnshire, England) is an English musician. He was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the indie band Athlete between 2000 and their split in 2013. In recent years he has served as a son ...

– additional vocals (4) Orchestra * John Metcalfe – arrangements and conductor ;Horns on "Brutal Romance" * Dave Stewart –

bass trombone The bass trombone (, ) is the bass instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. Modern instruments are pitched in the same B♭ as the tenor trombone but with a larger bore, bell and mouthpiece to facilitate low register playing, and u ...

* Andy Wood –

tenor trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the air column inside the instrument to ...

* Philip Easop, Martin Owen, David Pyatt and Richard Watkins –

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...

;Strings on "Brutal Romance" and "Magical Machine" * Lucy Whaley – string fixing * Louise Fuller – string leader * Chris Allen, Ian Burdge, Vicki Matthews, Nick Roberts, Jonathan Tunnell and Bozidar Vulkotic – cello * Colin Paris, Beth Simmons, Allen Walley and Chris West – double bass * Rolad Chbah, Bill Hawkes, Nick Pendlebury, Rose Redgrave, Rachel Roberts and Steve Toos – viola * Natalie Bonner, Gillon Cameron, Frances Dewar, Alison Dods, Louise Fuller, Richard George, Kathy Gowers, Pete Hanson, Claire Hayes, Ian Humphries, Rick Koster, Oll Langford, Nicky Sweeney and Chris Windass – violin

Production

* Paul Harris – A&R * Brooke Fraser – producer, additional recording (1, 3, 10) * David Kosten – producer, recording, mixing, vocal recording (6) * Dan Wilson – producer (8) * Mo Hausler – additional recording, additional editing * Matt Hales – additional recording (2) * Joel Pott – additional recording (4) * Kid Harpoon – additional recording (7) * Tobias Fröberg – additional recording (9) * Al Lawson – recording assistant (1, 4, 6, 7), editing assistant (1, 4, 6, 7) * Steve Orchard – vocal recording (6), orchestra recording (6, 8) * Jamie Ashton – orchestra recording assistant (6, 8) * Paul Pritchard – orchestra recording assistant (6, 8) * John Rausch – vocal recording (8) *

Bob Ludwig Robert Carl Ludwig (born December 11, 1944), is a retired American mastering engineer. He mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists, including Led Zeppeli ...

– mastering at Gateway Mastering (Portland, Maine) * Campbell Hooper – album artwork * Paul McKessar – management * Campbell Smith – management

Charts

References

2014 albums Brooke Fraser albums Vagrant Records albums {{2010s-pop-album-stub