''Sugaregg'' (stylized in
all caps
In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in ...
) is the third
studio album by American
rock act
Bully. It was released on August 21, 2020 by
Sub Pop
Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are oft ...
.
Following two albums that were recorded by Bully as a band, ''Sugaregg'' is the first Bully album to be recorded as a solo project of frontwoman Alicia Bognanno. She co-produced ''Sugaregg'' with
John Congleton and Graham Walsh, making it the first Bully album not to be solely produced by Bognanno.
Background and recording
Following the release of Bully's second album ''
Losing
Losing may refer to:
Music
* "Losing" (Tenth Avenue North song), a 2012 song by Tenth Avenue North
* "Losing" (Takida song), a 2006 song by Takida
* ''Losing'' (album)
People with the surname
* Sabine Lösing (born 1955), German politician
Se ...
'' (2017), bassist Reece Lazarus and guitarist Clayton Parker departed the band, leaving lead vocalist and guitarist Alicia Bognanno as its sole remaining member.
Bognanno opted to continue recording solo material under the Bully name.
After having self-produced Bully's first two albums ''
Feels Like'' (2015) and ''Losing'', Bognanno decided to seek outside assistance in producing ''Sugaregg'', as she felt that the quality of the music would be compromised if she continued to handle both songwriting and
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
duties by herself.
She enlisted
John Congleton to co-produce the album with her, while Graham Walsh of the band
Holy Fuck provided additional production.
Bognanno said in June 2019 that ''Sugaregg'' would be produced "in a completely different way, on completely different terms... a lot has changed and I feel a lot better in every aspect of my life than I have in a long time." That summer, she recorded the bulk of the album in two weeks at
Pachyderm Studios in
Cannon Falls
Cannon Falls is a city in Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 4,083 at the 2010 census. Located along U.S. Route 52, southeast of the Twin Cities, Cannon Falls is the home of Pachyderm Studio, where many famous musici ...
, Minnesota, accompanied by Congleton and backing musicians
Zachary Dawes and Wesley Mitchell.
Bognanno then worked on additional material for the record over the next five months, which she recorded at Palace Sound in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...
, assisted by Walsh.
The songs on ''Sugaregg'' were written by Bognanno "on and off" over a period of around three years.
She derived the album's title from an episode of the
WNYC
WNYC is the trademark and a set of call letters shared by WNYC (AM) and WNYC-FM, a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations located in New York City. WNYC is owned by New York Public Radio (NYPR), a nonprofit organization th ...
radio program ''
Radiolab
''Radiolab'' is a radio program produced by WNYC, a public radio station in New York City, and broadcast on public radio stations in the United States. The show is nationally syndicated and is available as a podcast. Live shows were first of ...
'' that profiled a man who preserved an egg-shaped mold of sugar, a keepsake from his childhood, for several decades.
Critical reception
Upon its release, ''Sugaregg'' was generally well received by music critics. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a
normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 77, based on 13 reviews.
Track listing
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.
* Alicia Bognanno – vocals, guitar, bass,
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
, cover photography
* Angelina Castillo – photography
*
John Congleton – engineering,
mixing
*
Zachary Dawes – bass
*
Heba Kadry –
mastering
* Wesley Mitchell – drums
* Graham Walsh – engineering, mixing
Charts
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
2020 albums
Bully (band) albums
Albums produced by John Congleton
Sub Pop albums