''Ground Control'' is the fourth studio album by English

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

band

Rudimental Rudimental are a British drum and bass band, signed to Asylum Records, Atlantic Records and Black Butter Records. The band consists of Piers Aggett, Kesi Dryden and Leon "Locksmith" Rolle. They were nominated for a Mercury Prize in 2013, and ...

, released on 3 September 2021 through

Asylum Records Asylum Records is an American record label, founded in 1971 by David Geffen and partner Elliot Roberts. It was taken over by Warner Communications (now the Warner Music Group) in 1972, and later merged with Elektra Records to become Elektra/As ...

. It is their final album to feature Amir Amor, who left the band in October 2022.

Background and composition

In an interview with

HMV HMV is an international music and entertainment retailer, founded in 1921. The brand is owned by Hilco Capital and operated by Sunrise Records, except in Japan, where it is owned and operated by Lawson. The inaugural shop was opened on Lo ...

and Rudimental member Piers Aggett, he talked about the writing process of ''Ground Control'' whilst in lockdown during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and stated that the album material started surfacing even before their third album ''

Toast to Our Differences ''Toast to our Differences'' is the third studio album by English drum and bass band Rudimental, released on 25 January 2019 through Asylum Records. The album was originally planned to be released in September 2018, but was delayed to include more ...

'' was released. Aggett said, "COVID was actually a bit of a blessing for us. Normally we tour all the time, certainly all summer, and it gave us a summer at home for the first time in a long time. We made the whole album in lockdown. A lot of the songs were actually written in 2018." He elaborated, "We went to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and we did a bunch of writing out there. Lots of the songs are from those sessions. That’s the way we tend to work, we go on a trip, we write a lot and then it takes us a long while to actually work on the songs and finish them. The pandemic made us productive because suddenly there wasn't a gig at the weekend and we could really focus." The album was described by the band as referencing from their earlier material but infused with more

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

. Upon the release of the album, the band stated that the record is intended to be seen as a two-sided album - "side A touches on our roots, the pirate radio stations and influences we grew up with, and side B flows deeper into soul and darker textures and atmospheres."

Track listing

Notes * signifies a co- producer * signifies an additional producer * signifies a vocal producer

Personnel

Rudimental * Piers Aggett – drum programming (1–4, 8–11, 13–16), synthesizer (1–5, 7–11, 13–16), programming (5, 6), keyboards (12), bass synthesizer (16) * Amir Amor – drum programming (1–5, 8–11, 13–16), guitar (1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10–12, 14), bass (2, 4, 13, 15), programming (7), synthesizer (7, 9), keyboards (12, 16), percussion (16) * Kesi Dryden – drum programming (1–5, 8, 10, 11, 13–16), synthesizer (2–5, 7–11, 13, 15, 16), programming (7), synthesizer programming (9), bass synthesizer (16) * Leon Rolle – drum programming (1, 11, 14–16), keyboards, percussion (1–5, 8–11, 13–16); programming (7, 12), synthesizer (7) Additional musicians * Connor Bellis – programming (1), drum programming (4) * Beth Aggett – backing vocals (2, 5, 8) *

Anne-Marie Anne-Marie Rose Nicholson (born 7 April 1991) is an English singer and songwriter. She has attained various charting singles on the UK Singles Chart, including Clean Bandit's " Rockabye", which peaked at number one, as well as "Alarm", " Ciao ...

– backing vocals (2), vocals (1, 9) * John Ryan – guitar (2) * Kareen Lomax – vocals (2) * Morgan – backing vocals (3), vocals (14) * Taurean Antoine-Chagar – saxophone (3, 14) * Harry Brown – trombone (3) * Mark Crown – trumpet (3, 12, 14) * Nørskov – vocals (3, 13) * Hardy Caprio – vocals (4) * Gigi Wens – vocals (4) * Ian Burdge – cello (5) * MJ Cole – drum programming,

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''vo''ice and en''coder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder wa ...

(5) * Sally Herbert – string arrangement, violin (5) * Josh Barry – vocals (5) * S1mba – backing vocals (7) * Renell Shaw – guitar (7, 12), backing vocals, bass (16) * Jay Weathers – programming (7) * Max Abrahams – drum programming (8, 16) * Sam Newbold – saxophone (8, 13) *

Ella Henderson Gabriella Michelle Henderson (born 12 January 1996) is a British singer and songwriter. She competed in the ninth series of '' The X Factor UK'' in 2012, being the eighth contestant eliminated despite being a strong favourite to win. She sign ...

– vocals (8) * Oliver Dene Jones – drum programming, synthesizer (9) * Hamzaa – backing vocals (10), vocals (16) * Sam Knowles – synthesizer (10), keyboards (12), drum programming (14, 15) *

Maverick Sabre Michael Stafford (born 12 July 1990), better known as Maverick Sabre, is an Irish singer, songwriter, and rapper. Early life Stafford was born in Stoke Newington, in Hackney, London. At age four, he moved with his family to New Ross, County W ...

– vocals (10) * Kojey Radical – vocals (10) * Redlight – drum programming, synthesizer (11) * The Game – vocals (11) * BackRoad Gee – vocals (11) *

D Double E Darren Jason Dixon (born 19 January 1980), known professionally as D Double E, is a British grime MC, DJ and record producer from Forest Gate, East London. He performs both as a solo artist and as a member of the grime duo Newham Generals. ...

– vocals (11) *

Tove Lo Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson (born 29 October 1987), known professionally as Tove Lo (), is a Swedish singer and songwriter. She is known for her raw, grunge-influenced take on pop music. Referring to her autobiographical lyrics, ''Out (magazine), O ...

– backing vocals (13) * Keeya Keys – backing vocals (13) *

Lowkey Kareem Dennis (born 23 May 1986), better known by his stage name Lowkey, is a British rapper and activist from London. He first became known through a series of mixtapes he released before he was 18, before taking a hiatus from the music busi ...

– vocals (15) * RV – vocals (15) * Natalie Maddix – choir direction, vocal arrangement (16) * Oliver George Nobes Hutchinson – organ (16) * Liza Jennings – vocal arrangement (16) * House Gospel Choir – vocals (16) Technical * Kevin Grainger – mastering * Greg Freeman – mixing * Connor Bellis –

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

(all tracks), additional vocal recording (15) * George Murphy – engineering, additional vocal recording (16) * Ryan Fletcher – additional vocal recording (3)

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2021 albums Asylum Records albums Rudimental albums Major Tom's albums