Background
Palmer stated that "Most of these songs were exercises in survival. This isn't really the record that I was planning to make. But loss and death kept happening in real-time, and these songs became my therapeutic arsenal of tools for making sense of it all." She also said that "The kind of stories that I'm sharing on this record—abortion, miscarriage, cancer, grief, the darker sides of parenthood—have been therapeutic and frightening to write." The cover art is allusive to Virgin Steele's 1985 album Noble Savage.Promotion
The demos of "Bigger on the Inside" (originally featuring Zoë Keating), "The Thing About Things", "A Mother's Confession", "Machete", "Drowning in the Sound", and "Judy Blume" were all released as promotional singles on March 9, 2015, May 26, 2015, February 25, 2016, March 9, 2016, August 31, 2017, and February 12, 2018, respectively. "Judy Blume" and "Look Mummy, No Hands" were previously included on the 2013 live album ''An Evening with Neil Gaiman & Amanda Palmer''. "Judy Blume" also received a music video on February 12, 2019. "The Ride" (originally released as a Patron-exclusive video on October 26, 2017) was previewed with a performance on NPR's All Things Considered on February 13, 2019.Singles
The studio version of "Drowning in the Sound" was released as the first official single from the album along with the album pre-order on December 11, 2018. A music video was released on August 8, 2019. "Voicemail for Jill" was released as the second single on February 19, 2019. A music video for the song was released on March 7, 2019.Reception
The album has received a score of 78/100 from media aggregate site Metacritic based on 11 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".Track listing
All songs written by Amanda Palmer, except where notedPersonnel
Taken from the album's liner notes.Musicians
*Amanda Palmer – vocals, piano, ukulele, organ, synths *Crystal Brooke Alforque – violin (Track 12) *Laurann Angel – violin, viola * Jherek Bischoff – double bass, guitar, vibraphone, prepared piano, sub bass synth, cymbals, bass drum, backing vocals * John Congleton – drums, synths, sequencing *Madeline Falcone – violin, viola *Nicole Garcia – violin, viola *April Guthrie – cello *Max Henry – synths *Paris Hurley – violin, viola *Rachel Iba – violin, viola *Jodie Landau – vibraphone, glockenspiel *Aniela Marie Perry – cello * Joey Waronker – drums * Jason Webley – accordion *The "Baby Didn't Die" Choir: Anthony Palacios, Carly D. Weckstein, Charlotte Kaufman, David Goren, Ian Michaels, Jherek Bischoff, Joy Craig, Kale Chase, Lisa Schneider, Marvel Star de la Cruz, Michelle Gibson, Paul Bellatoni, Phoebe Pinder, Sara Bartel, Simon Vance, Theresa Richardson, Vanessa Rodriguez, Xine TrevinoTechnical
*Amanda Palmer – writer (Tracks 1-17, 19-20) *Jherek Bischoff – instrumental arrangement and mixing (all instrumental interludes), string arrangement (Track 12), recording (vibraphone, double bass, sub bass synth, cymbals, bass drum, and glockenspiel) * Greg Calbi – mastering *John Congleton – producer, mixing, engineer * Ben Folds – "songwriting help" (Track 4) *Tyler Karmen – studio assistant * Dillie Keane – writer (Track 18) *Jaron Luksa – recording (Track 12), violin, violin, and cello recordingArtwork
* Allan Amato – sleeve photography *Regina Harris – stylist for insert photography * Kahn & Selesnick – insert photography *Andrew Nelson – album artwork designer *"Piano Stewards": Ngo'e Crossan, Julias Ross Bright, Philip Marshall, Nico Deslis, Joe Yarabek, Ben Ranes *"Library Department": Justine Marzack, Ash GaimanTour
Charts
See also
* Music videos for this albumReferences
External links