Gravity the Seducer

{{quote box|width=24em|align=left|quote="It isn't like our other albums. It sounds warm, lush, full of strings, organs and bells. It won't please everyone, you never can, but we're all pretty happy with it."|source=—Marnie on the album's sound.}}

Gravity the Seducer was Ladytron's second studio album released under the Nettwerk record label, with whom they signed in 2007.{{cite web |last=Goldmeier |first=Jeremy |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2007/11/ladytron-hooks-up-to-nettwerk-for-new-album.html |title=Ladytron hooks up to Nettwerk for new album |work=Paste |date=12 November 2007 |access-date=12 March 2012 |archive-date=13 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113230425/http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2007/11/ladytron-hooks-up-to-nettwerk-for-new-album.html |url-status=dead }} Their first release through Nettwork was the 2008 studio album Velocifero,{{cite web |last=Phares |first=Heather |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/velocifero-mw0000786627 |title=Velocifero – Ladytron |publisher=AllMusic|access-date=27 March 2012}} followed in March 2011 by the greatest hits album Best of 00–10.{{cite web |last=Breihan |first=Tom |url=https://pitchfork.com/news/41413-ladytron-ready-career-retrospective/ |title=Ladytron Ready Career Retrospective |work=Pitchfork |date=1 February 2011 |access-date=27 March 2012}} Ladytron also self-released the live album, Live at London Astoria 16.07.08 in 2009.{{cite web |url=https://www.myspace.com/ladytron/blog/491363811 |title=Ladytron: Live at London Astoria 16.07.08. Now on iTunes van Ladytron op Myspace |publisher=Myspace |access-date=2011-11-19}}{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/live-at-london-astoria-160708-mw0001795786 |title=Live at London Astoria 16.07.08 – Ladytron |publisher=AllMusic|access-date=27 March 2012}}

Gravity the Seducer was recorded in Kent, England,{{cite web |last=Carle |first=Darren |url=https://www.theskinny.co.uk/music/interviews/interview-ladytrons-helen-marnie |title=Interview: Ladytron's Helen Marnie |work=The Skinny |date=26 May 2011 |access-date=13 December 2018}} and was co-produced by Barny Barnicott, who had previously collaborated with Arctic Monkeys and Editors.{{cite web |last=Breihan |first=Tom |url=https://pitchfork.com/news/42071-ladytrons-new-album-gravity-the-seducer/ |title=Ladytron's New Album: Gravity the Seducer |work=Pitchfork |date=31 March 2011 |access-date=12 March 2012}} as well as having worked on Ladytron's 2005 album Witching Hour. The band felt that the production of the album was different from that of Velocifero, with band member Daniel Hunt noting that the latter record had been "made with performance in mind", as the band had recently finished touring when it was produced. Gravity the Seducer was produced "while removed from that thinking".

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, singer Helen Marnie described the album as "the warmest, most emotional, thing we've ever done".{{cite magazine |last=Nika |first=Colleen |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/blogs/thread-count/ladytron-go-glam-on-new-album-20111025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111027125315/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/blogs/thread-count/ladytron-go-glam-on-new-album-20111025 |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 October 2011 |title=Ladytron Go Glam on New Album |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=25 October 2011 |access-date=12 March 2012}} The vocal parts on the album have been mixed at a lower volume than previous Ladytron albums, while four tracks are entirely instrumental.{{cite web |last=Gill |first=Jaime |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/pmb6/text.mp |title=Review of Ladytron – Gravity the Seducer |publisher=BBC Music |date=7 September 2011 |access-date=26 March 2012 }}{{Dead link|date=June 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The title Gravity the Seducer is taken from a line in the song "Ninety Degrees", which Hunt has described as "expanding our creative horizons".{{cite web |url=http://www.ladytron.com/#about |title=Ladytron – About |website=Ladytron.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111114043244/http://www.ladytron.com/get_text2.php?tc=3 |archive-date=14 November 2011 |url-status=dead |access-date=27 March 2012}} The cover artwork, designed by Neil Krug, has been described as an "endless vista" thematically linked the music's "vast atmospheres", and has been compared to the works of design group Hipgnosis.

Gravity the Seducer was released on 12 September 2011 in the United Kingdom, and the following day in the United States.{{cite web |last=Fitzmaurice |first=Larry |url=https://pitchfork.com/news/42526-new-ladytron-white-elephant/ |title=New Ladytron: "White Elephant" |work=Pitchfork |date=16 May 2011 |access-date=13 December 2018}} In support of the album, Ladytron toured Europe, North America, Brazil, Chile, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore throughout 2011.{{cite web |last=Breihan |first=Tom |url=https://pitchfork.com/news/43041-ladytron-share-new-song-tour-dates/ |title=Ladytron Share New Song Tour Dates |work=Pitchfork |date=6 July 2011 |access-date=12 March 2012}}{{cite web |url=http://www.nettwerk.com/news/2011/ladytron-announces-international-tour-dates-sneak-peek-exclusive-mtv-iggy-performance |title=Ladytron Announces International Tour Dates; Sneak Peek To Exclusive MTV Iggy Performance |publisher=Nettwerk |date=17 October 2011 |access-date=13 December 2018 |archive-date=13 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181213193622/http://www.nettwerk.com/news/2011/ladytron-announces-international-tour-dates-sneak-peek-exclusive-mtv-iggy-performance |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |last=Studarus |first=Laura |url=http://www.undertheradarmag.com/news/watch_ladytron_mirage_video/ |title=Watch: Ladytron – "Mirage" Video |work=Under the Radar |date=30 November 2011 |access-date=13 December 2018}}

"Ace of Hz", the fourth song from Gravity the Seducer, also appeared on band's greatest hits compilation Best of 00–10 and on their Ace of Hz EP. "Ace of Hz" had been released as a single on 30 November 2010. The song was also included in the video game FIFA 11.{{cite web |last=Breihan |first=Tom |url=https://pitchfork.com/news/40583-new-ladytron-ace-of-hz/ |title=New Ladytron: "Ace of Hz" |work=Pitchfork |date=3 November 2010 |access-date=12 March 2012}} "White Elephant" was officially released as the lead single from Gravity the Seducer on 17 May 2011.{{cite web |url=https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/white-elephant-single/id435542923 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140601155509/https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/white-elephant-single/id435542923 |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 June 2014 |title=White Elephant – Single by Ladytron |publisher=iTunes Store (UK) |access-date=9 December 2011}}

For further promotion, the songs "Ambulances" and "Mirage" were released as digital downloads on 21 June and 9 August, respectively.{{cite web |url=https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/ambulances-single/id438714481 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110625062849/http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/ambulances-single/id438714481 |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 June 2011 |title=Ambulances – Single by Ladytron |publisher=iTunes Store (UK) |access-date=9 December 2011}}{{cite web |url=https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/mirage-single/id438977565 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140601155547/https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/mirage-single/id438977565 |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 June 2014 |title=Mirage – Single by Ladytron |publisher=iTunes Store (UK) |access-date=9 December 2011}} The video for "Mirage" was filmed at the Callanish Stones, a five-thousand-year-old stone circle near the Scottish village of Callanish.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-15745165 |title=Calanais stones in Liverpool band Ladytron's new video |publisher=BBC News |date=16 November 2011 |access-date=13 December 2018}} The video was co-directed by Michael Sherrington and Daniel Hunt.{{cite web |url=http://www.nettwerk.com/news/2011/ladytron-releases-music-video-single-mirage-gravity-seducer |title=Ladytron Releases Music Video for Single, "Mirage", From 'Gravity the Seducer' |publisher=Nettwerk |date=15 November 2011 |access-date=13 December 2018 |archive-date=16 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216031556/http://www.nettwerk.com/news/2011/ladytron-releases-music-video-single-mirage-gravity-seducer |url-status=dead }}

{{Album ratings

| MC = 68/100

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}

| rev2 = The A.V. Club

| rev2Score = B−

| rev3 = Clash

| rev3Score = 9/10

| rev4 = Drowned in Sound

| rev4Score = 5/10

| rev5 = The Guardian

| rev5Score = {{Rating|3|5}}

| rev6 = NME

| rev6Score = 7/10

| rev7 = Pitchfork

| rev7Score = 6.0/10

| rev8 = PopMatters

| rev8Score = 7/10{{cite web |last=Payne |first=Chris |url=https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/150184-ladytron-gravity-the-seducer/ |title=Ladytron: Gravity The Seducer |work=PopMatters |date=7 November 2011 |access-date=13 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111108072043/http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/150184-ladytron-gravity-the-seducer/ |archive-date=8 November 2011}}

| rev9 = Slant Magazine

| rev9Score = {{Rating|3|5}}

| rev10 = Spin

| rev10Score = 6/10

}}

Gravity the Seducer received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 68, based on 20 reviews.{{cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/music/gravity-the-seducer/ladytron |title=Gravity the Seducer by Ladytron Reviews and Tracks |publisher=Metacritic|access-date=13 December 2018}} The Independent{{'}}s Simon Price praised the album as "faultless", noting that it represented the band "at their most electronically pure".{{cite web |last=Price |first=Simon |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-ladytron-gravity-the-seducer-nettwerk-2353028.html |title=Album: Ladytron, Gravity the Seducer (Nettwerk) |work=The Independent |date=11 September 2011 |access-date=22 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120201055118/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-ladytron-gravity-the-seducer-nettwerk-2353028.html |archive-date=1 February 2012}} Chris Todd of Clash magazine lauded Gravity the Seducer as "an album of lush and elegant pop music, beguiling and gloriously cinematic."{{cite web |last=Todd |first=Chris |url=https://www.clashmusic.com/reviews/ladytron-gravity-the-seducer |title=Ladytron – Gravity The Seducer |work=Clash |date=9 September 2011 |access-date=22 September 2011}} Slant Magazine{{'s}} Eric Henderson described the album as "uniformly sleek [and] polished like a summer skyline" and praised singer Helen Marnie's "lightly lilting" vocals, but felt that the similarity between certain songs left the album feeling "almost barren".{{cite web |last=Henderson |first=Eric |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/ladytron-gravity-the-seducer |title=Ladytron: Gravity the Seducer |work=Slant Magazine |date=12 September 2011 |access-date=13 December 2018}} Heather Phares of AllMusic described the album as "an admirable artistic choice, even though it doesn't always pay off".{{cite web |last=Phares |first=Heather |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/gravity-the-seducer-mw0002135144 |title=Gravity the Seducer – Ladytron |publisher=AllMusic|access-date=13 December 2018}}

The A.V. Club{{'s}} Christopher Bahn called the album "heart-on-sleeve and icily detached at the same time"; however, Bahn opined that "the lack of a propulsive single ... as well as an overabundance of instrumentals, suggests a band that's spinning its wheels".{{cite web |last=Bahn |first=Christopher |url=https://www.avclub.com/ladytron-gravity-the-seducer-1798169547 |title=Ladytron: Gravity The Seducer |work=The A.V. Club |date=13 September 2011 |access-date=13 December 2018 |archive-date=17 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417164151/https://music.avclub.com/ladytron-gravity-the-seducer-1798169547 |url-status=live }} Jamie Crossan of NME found the album to be "nothing new", but felt that the album's content is more of what "the band have always excelled" at.{{cite web |last=Crossan |first=Jamie |url=https://www.nme.com/reviews/ladytron/12303 |title=Album Review: Ladytron – 'Gravity The Seducer' |work=NME|date=6 September 2011 |access-date=17 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407164135/http://www.nme.com/reviews/ladytron/12303 |archive-date=7 April 2014}} Larry Fitzmaurice of Pitchfork dubbed the album "upsettingly uneven", adding that it represented a transition away from the sound of band's earlier work, which he felt was still evident in "Ace of Hz" and "Mirage", towards a "floatier, airy feel".{{cite web |last=Fitzmaurice |first=Larry |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15803-gravity-the-seducer/ |title=Ladytron: Gravity the Seducer |work=Pitchfork |date=14 September 2011 |access-date=14 September 2011}} Michael Hann of The Guardian expressed that Gravity the Seducer did not measure up to the band's earlier work, picking out their earlier single "Destroy Everything You Touch" as a yardstick "that subsequent work will always be judged against".{{cite web |last=Hann |first=Michael |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/sep/08/ladytron-gravity-the-seducer-review |title=Ladytron: Gravity the Seducer – review |work=The Guardian |date=8 September 2011 |access-date=14 December 2016}} Spin magazine's Barry Walters remarked that the album "lacks the infectious, dark-disco rumble" of Ladytron's earlier work, noting that it "withhold[s] the hooks that previously put the sweet in their bitter".{{cite web |last=Walters |first=Barry |url=http://www.spin.com/reviews/ladytron-gravity-seducer-nettwerk |title=Ladytron, 'Gravity the Seducer' (Nettwerk) |work=Spin |date=13 September 2011 |access-date=22 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111122210911/http://www.spin.com/reviews/ladytron-gravity-seducer-nettwerk |archive-date=22 November 2011}} John Calvert of Drowned in Sound characterised the album as "slightly bland" and "nondescript in its understated sophistication", concluding that "Gravity the Seducer never manages to get under your skin the way the band intended".{{cite web |last=Calvert |first=John |url=http://drownedinsound.com/releases/16492/reviews/4143534 |title=Ladytron – Gravity the Seducer |work=Drowned in Sound |date=12 September 2011 |access-date=22 September 2011 |archive-date=5 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105160804/http://drownedinsound.com/releases/16492/reviews/4143534 |url-status=dead }}

In the band's home country, the United Kingdom, Gravity the Seducer peaked at number 72 on the UK Albums Chart, spending one week on the chart.{{cite web |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/229/ladytron/ |title=Ladytron |publisher=Official Charts Company |access-date=13 December 2018}} It became the band's highest-peaking album on the chart to date.

The album's highest chart position was on the United States' Heatseekers Albums chart, where it peaked at number two. The album reached 112 on the Billboard 200, as well as number 27 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart and number six on the Dance/Electronic Albums chart.

Gravity the Seducer reached number 50 on the Finnish Albums Chart, spending one week on the chart; number 90 in the Canadian Albums Chart; and number four on the Belgian Heatseekers Albums Chart, spending a week on that chart.

{{Track listing

| title1 = White Elephant

| writer1 = Daniel Hunt

| length1 = 4:15

| title2 = Mirage

| writer2 = Hunt

| length2 = 4:21

| title3 = White Gold

| writer3 = {{flatlist|

• Helen Marnie
• Reuben Wu

}}

| length3 = 5:00

| title4 = Ace of Hz

| writer4 = Hunt

| length4 = 3:36

| title5 = Ritual

| writer5 = Hunt

| length5 = 4:17

| title6 = Moon Palace

| writer6 = Mira Aroyo

| length6 = 3:26

| title7 = Altitude Blues

| writer7 = {{flatlist|

• Aroyo
• Marnie
• Wu

}}

| length7 = 3:19

| title8 = Ambulances

| writer8 = Marnie

| length8 = 3:16

| title9 = Melting Ice

| writer9 = Aroyo

| length9 = 4:48

| title10 = Transparent Days

| writer10 = Hunt

| length10 = 4:01

| title11 = Ninety Degrees

| writer11 = Hunt

| length11 = 4:34

| title12 = Aces High

| writer12 = Hunt

| length12 = 2:54

| total_length = 47:47

}}

On 29 November 2013, Ladytron released the remix album Gravity the Seducer (Remixed), a collection of remixes of Gravity the Seducer songs. They also released an exclusive limited-edition blue vinyl of this remix album on Record Store Day special Black Friday.{{cite web |url=http://www.recordstoreday.com/SpecialRelease/6425 |title=RECORD STORE DAY - SpecialRelease}}

{{Track listing

| extra_column = Remixer(s)

| title1 = White Elephant

| extra1 = Strange Fruit

| length1 = 3:43

| title2 = Mirage

| extra2 = Mixhell

| length2 = 4:49

| title3 = White Gold

| extra3 = Tarsius

| length3 = 6:15

| title4 = Ace of Hz

| extra4 = Punks Jump Up

| length4 = 4:53

| title5 = Ritual

| extra5 = Reset!

| length5 = 4:32

| title6 = Moon Palace

| extra6 = ARIISK

| length6 = 3:23

| title7 = Altitude Blues

| extra7 = Outfit

| length7 = 4:51

| title8 = Ambulances

| extra8 = Gosteffects

| length8 = 4:18

| title9 = Melting Ice

| extra9 = The Chaotic Good

| length9 = 5:41

| title10 = Transparent Days

| extra10 = SONOIO

| length10 = 4:20

| title11 = Ninety Degrees

| extra11 = Somekong

| length11 = 6:17

| title12 = Aces High

| extra12 = Ladytron

| length12 = 3:12

| total_length = 56:14

}}

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Gravity the Seducer.

• Ladytron – production
• Daniel Hunt – production
• Barny Barnicott – additional production, engineering, mixing
• Alessandro Cortini – additional production
• Neil Krug – artwork
• Trevor Tarczynski – design

{{Reflist}}

{{Ladytron}}

{{Good article}}

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Category:2011 albums

Category:Ladytron albums

Category:Nettwerk Records albums