''Fractured Life'' is the debut album by

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

Air Traffic Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled ai ...

. It was released on 2 July 2007 on the Tiny Consumer label, an imprint of

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

. The album contains UK Top 40 hit " Charlotte" as well as other singles "Just Abuse Me", "

Never Even Told Me Her Name ''Never Even Told Me Her Name'' is a song by Bournemouth-based band Air Traffic taken from their debut album, '' Fractured Life'', released on 2 July 2007. It was the first song from the band to be added to the influential BBC Radio 1 playlist, w ...

", "

Shooting Star A meteor, known colloquially as a shooting star, is a glowing streak of a small body (usually meteoroid) going through Earth's atmosphere, after being heated to incandescence by collisions with air molecules in the upper atmosphere, creating a ...

" and, most recently, " No More Running Away". The album was released in America on 5 February 2008.

Release

"Just Abuse Me" is the first single taken from the album. It was released as a

double a-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

with " Charlotte", a song which would later be re-released as a solo single. The

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

was the 5th in a series of black and white 7-inch records released by Label Fandango, the independent record label from the creators of live music promotion company Club Fandango. It was described by the label as "Piano-led indie rock". The vinyl would lead to the band's major label signing, as following

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reed Lowe (born 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence through pr ...

playing "Just Abuse Me" on his

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

show, the band were signed to a long-term contract by

in May 2006. "Just Abuse Me"/"Charlotte" was ineligible to chart in the UK Singles Chart as it was limited to 500 copies. The track "Empty Space" was released as the iTunes free single of the week in the UK.

Commercial performance and accolades

In the first week of its release, ''Fractured Life'' attained #42 on the

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 ...

. James Cannon, of

Capital Radio Capital London is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Global Media & Entertainment as part of its national Capital (radio network), Capital Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Bri ...

, named the album "Album of the Week" for 2–9 July 2007. On 30 July 2007, the band re-released the album in a limited pressing 12 inch vinyl form. The album was nominated for the 2008 XFM New Music Award, where the band played a special one-off performance at the ceremony at

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

's KOKO. The band was nominated for "Best International Newcomer" and "Best International Artist" at the 2007 and 2008

TMF Awards The TMF Awards were an annual television awards show broadcast live on TMF (The Music Factory). The first Dutch TMF Awards were held in 1995, as a brand extension to the recently launched local Dutch music channel TMF. The show was very small a ...

, respectively.

Chart performance

Track listing

# "Just Abuse Me" - 2:33 # " Charlotte" - 2:24 # "

" - 4:08 # " No More Running Away" - 4:23 # "Empty Space" - 3:37 # "Time Goes By" - 4:06 # "I Like That" - 2:26 # "

" - 2:45 # "Get In Line" - 2:07 # "I Can't Understand" - 4:25 # "Your Fractured Life" - 22:55 *Includes hidden track "Pee Wee Martini" The Japanese release of ''Fractured Life'' includes bonus tracks "An End To All Our Problems" and "Left Out In The Rain", which are b-sides to former singles "Charlotte" and "Shooting Star" respectively. The US and German releases also included an extra track, "Come On." The track was released in the US and made available free to download from the band's website in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

References

{{Authority control 2007 debut albums Air Traffic albums