Jessica Rabbit (album)
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''Jessica Rabbit'' is the fourth studio album by American
noise pop Noise pop is a subgenre of alternative and indie rock that developed in the mid-1980s in the United Kingdom and United States. It is defined by its mixture of dissonant noise or feedback with the songcraft more often found in pop music. Shoegaz ...
duo
Sleigh Bells A jingle bell or sleigh bell is a type of bell which produces a distinctive 'jingle' sound, especially in large numbers. They find use in many areas as a percussion instrument, including the classic sleigh bell sound and morris dancing. Th ...
. It was released on November 11, 2016, by Torn Clean, the duo's own label, in partnership with Sinderlyn.


Critical reception

''Jessica Rabbit'' received generally positive reviews from music critics. At
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, which assigns a
normalized Normalization or normalisation refers to a process that makes something more normal or regular. Science * Normalization process theory, a sociological theory of the implementation of new technologies or innovations * Normalization model, used in ...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an
average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...
score of 72, based on 24 reviews. Lee Adcock of '' Drowned in Sound'' stated that " erything about ''Jessica Rabbit'' is visceral—full-force drum slams, the slick claps, Miller's steely slabs of guitar, lyrics replete with bombs, knives, and natural disasters." El Hunt of '' DIY'' opined, "Energising Sleigh Bells with rocket-fuel, ''Jessica Rabbit'' stands up as the band's most consistent record since ''Treats''." Heather Phares of
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
noted that "instead of just tweaking their dynamics,
he duo He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...
play fast and loose with the most conventional and experimental parts of their music", concluding, "Contrasts like these have been Sleigh Bells' modus operandi since the beginning, but ''Jessica Rabbit''s mix of brashness and finesse proves they can still thrill." ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
''s Gwilym Mumford found that "there's a wider sonic palette on show than on previous efforts: snatches of synth and glitchy breakbeats jostle for attention alongside Alex Krauss's clean, poppy vocals", calling the album an "encouraging move into new territory". ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
''s Sarah Grant commented, "When Brooklyn duo Sleigh Bells arrived six years ago, their wild-style hip-hop/noise-punk seemed like an explosive novelty. Four records into their run, they're still building on it". Mark Beaumont of ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
'' wrote, "It's all deranged enough to convince us that Sleigh Bells are still menacing outliers, but on a deep cover mission to infiltrate the mainstream, horns still poking out of their '80s mullet wigs." ''
Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...
''s Evan Rytlewski viewed the album as "a hodgepodge of clashing sounds and concepts that's united only by its indiscriminate maximalism", adding that "the duo has never seemed to be trying harder than they are here, so although ''Jessica Rabbit'' is even more scattershot than '' Bitter Rivals'' was, it at least has a sense of showmanship that album didn't." Josh Goller of ''
Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yor ...
'' remarked that the album's "greater emphasis on melody, along with its more diverse, if occasionally too random, structure, clearly comes from savvier musicians who are more aware of their own tendencies and flaws, even if they can't always overcome them." Cole Waterman of ''
PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...
'' wrote that "the album manages to still sound like Sleigh Bells, though unlike anything they've previously released", but felt that a "bloated tracklist of 14 songs is baffling ndthe middle section bears the brunt of this quality dip. Had they edited it down to a more succinct 10 or even nine songs, such a knock could have been largely avoided." Kevin Warwick of ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'' expressed that "though Krauss does her damnedest to work with the quick-shifting rhythms and deep grab bag of ideas on ''Jessica Rabbit'', she still sounds like she's trying to keep up with its zigzagging movement."


Track listing


Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Jessica Rabbit''.


Sleigh Bells

*
Sleigh Bells A jingle bell or sleigh bell is a type of bell which produces a distinctive 'jingle' sound, especially in large numbers. They find use in many areas as a percussion instrument, including the classic sleigh bell sound and morris dancing. Th ...
– production *
Alexis Krauss Sleigh Bells are an American musical duo based in Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2008 and consisting of vocalist Alexis Krauss and guitarist/producer Derek E. Miller. They became known for their overdriven style of noise pop, which incorporates ...
– melodies, vocals * Derek Miller – beats, design, drums, engineering, guitar, layout, melodies, percussion, piano, synths, words


Additional personnel

* Brent Arrowood – engineering * Andrew Dawson – mixing *
Mike Elizondo Michael A. Elizondo Jr. (born October 22, 1972) is an American producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. A protégé of Dr. Dre, Elizondo has worked with 50 Cent, Eminem, Linkin Park, Carrie Underwood, Fiona Apple, Mastodon, Ry Cooder ...
– engineering ; executive production ; synths * Jeffrey Fettig – engineering *
Adam Hawkins Adam Hawkins (born July 1976) is an American recording and mix engineer. Life and career Hawkins was born in New Jersey, and later moved with his family to North Carolina. After graduating from high school he moved back to New Jersey to become a ...
– engineering ; mixing * Will Hubbard – design, layout *
Joe LaPorta Joseph J. LaPorta (born January 19, 1980) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound in Edgewater, New Jersey. Career LaPorta was born in New York and grew up there; he graduated from New York University with a bachelor's degree in ...
– mastering * Brian Montuori – artwork * Simeon Spiegel – engineering * Shane Stoneback – engineering * Nick Sylvester – engineering * Chris Zane – engineering


Charts


Release history


References

{{Authority control 2016 albums Sleigh Bells (band) albums