Safe in the Hands of Love

Tumor released "Noid" as the first single from the album on July 24, 2018,{{cite web |last=Darville |first=Jordan |url=https://www.thefader.com/2018/07/25/yves-tumor-noid-warp-records |title=Yves Tumor shares new song "Noid" |work=The Fader |date=July 25, 2018 |accessdate=September 9, 2018}} and followed it with "Licking an Orchid" featuring James K on August 29,{{cite web |last=Murray |first=Robin |url=https://www.clashmusic.com/news/yves-tumor-shares-shattering-new-single-licking-an-orchid |title=Yves Tumor Shares Shattering New Single 'Licking an Orchid' |work=Clash |date=August 29, 2018 |accessdate=September 9, 2018}} and "Lifetime" on September 3. They shared the track "Economy of Freedom" the following day,{{cite web |last=Wang |first=Steffanee |url=https://www.thefader.com/2018/09/04/yves-tumor-economy-of-freedom |title=Yves Tumor's new song "Economy of Freedom" feels apocalyptic and beautiful |work=The Fader |date=September 4, 2018 |accessdate=September 9, 2018}} and surprise released the album digitally the next day with no prior announcement. It is their first album released on Warp Records.{{cite web |last=Green |first=Gil |url=https://www.stereogum.com/2013137/yves-tumor-safe-in-the-hands-of-love/music/album-stream |title=Stream Yves Tumor's Surprise Album Safe In The Hands Of Love |work=Stereogum |date=September 5, 2018 |accessdate=September 9, 2018}} Physical editions were released on October 12.{{cite web |last=Maduakolam |first=Emmanuel |work=Hypebeast |url=https://hypebeast.com/2018/9/yves-tumor-safe-in-the-hands-of-love-stream |title=Yves Tumor Drops Surprise Album 'Safe in the Hands of Love' |date=September 6, 2018 |accessdate=September 9, 2018}}

Tumor's former tracks had nestled themselves into the realms of ambient, noise and sound collage. Their 2017 track "Limerence" was lauded{{cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/18900-yves-tumor-limerence/|title="Limerence" by Yves Tumor Review {{!}} Pitchfork Media|website=pitchfork.com|language=en|access-date=December 27, 2020}} and was included in the ambient music compilation mono no aware, alongside various other musicians.{{cite web|url=https://p-a-n.bandcamp.com/album/v-a-mono-no-aware|title=mono no aware by PAN {{!}} Bandcamp|website=p-a-n.bandcamp.com|language=en|access-date=December 27, 2020}}

A "benchmark in experimental music", the eclectic nature of Safe in the Hands has resulted in various descriptors for the genres it spans, with it noted for sounding "freer to move than most," going "from sultry ambient to future soul, psychedelic pop, and everything in between."

Instrumental opener "Faith in Nothing Except in Salvation" features "film-noir jazz trumpet" supplied by Will Artope. It is the first of three tracks to include Artope performing trumpet. The result would be "an off-kilter take on anthemic jazz" "that lends a sense of foreboding" to Safe in the Hands. The second track "Economy of Freedom" features contributions to the song's writing and arrangements from dark ambient musician Croatian Amor. Starting "with gauzy, resonant synths before dipping into ambient house", the song includes drum hits that "feel like something already dead hitting the floor" and "a lone vocal melody for the coda."

{{Music ratings

| ADM = 8.3/10{{cite web |url=http://www.anydecentmusic.com/review/9532/Yves-Tumor-Safe-In-The-Hands-Of-Love.aspx |title=Safe In The Hands Of Love by Yves Tumor reviews |work=AnyDecentMusic? |accessdate=August 31, 2019}}

| MC = 89/100{{cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/music/safe-in-the-hands-of-love/yves-tumor |title=Safe in the Hands of Love by Yves Tumor Reviews and Tracks |work=Metacritic |accessdate=September 19, 2018}}

| rev1 = The Guardian

| rev1score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite web |last=Beaumont-Thomas |first=Ben |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/sep/07/yves-tumor-safe-in-the-hands-of-love-review-warp |title=Yves Tumor: Safe in the Hands of Love review – thrilling plunderphonics |work=The Guardian |date=September 7, 2018 |accessdate=September 9, 2018}}

| rev2 = MusicOMH

| rev2score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite web |last=Devlin |first=Ben |url=https://www.musicomh.com/reviews/albums/yves-tumor-safe-in-the-hands-of-love |title=Yves Tumor – Safe in the Hands of Love |work=MusicOMH |date=September 13, 2018 |accessdate=October 14, 2018}}

| rev3 = Pitchfork

| rev3score = 9.1/10{{cite web |last=Greene |first=Jayson |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/yves-tumor-safe-in-the-hands-of-love |title=Yves Tumor: Safe in the Hands of Love |work=Pitchfork |date=September 7, 2018 |accessdate=September 9, 2018}}

| rev4 = PopMatters

| rev4score = 9/10{{cite web |last=Statis |first=Spyros |url=https://www.popmatters.com/yves-tumor-safe-hands-love-2607254603.html |title=The Surreal Touch of Yves Tumor Reaches New Heights on 'Safe in the Hands of Love' |work=PopMatters |date=September 25, 2018 |accessdate=October 14, 2018}}

| rev5 = Resident Advisor

| rev5score = 4.1/5{{cite web |last=McDermott |first=Matthew |url=https://www.residentadvisor.net/reviews/23017 |title=Yves Tumor – Safe in the Hands of Love |work=Resident Advisor |date=September 11, 2018 |accessdate=September 12, 2018}}

| rev6 = Tiny Mix Tapes

| rev6score = {{rating|4.5|5|full=TMT full.svg|half=TMT half.svg|empty=TMT empty.svg|rating=mark}}{{cite web |last=Goldner |first=Sam |url=https://www.tinymixtapes.com/music-review/yves-tumor-safe-hands-love |title=Yves Tumor – Safe in the Hands of Love |work=Tiny Mix Tapes |date=September 17, 2018 |accessdate=October 14, 2018}}

}}

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, Safe in the Hands of Love received an average score of 89, based on 9 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Eoin Murray of The Quietus stated that "Yves Tumor has let assertiveness, assuredness and vulnerability run wild within him for Safe in the Hands of Love and the result is magisterial and deeply engaging."{{cite web |last=Murray |first=Eoin |url=http://thequietus.com/articles/25264-yves-tumor-safe-in-the-hands-of-love-album-review |title=Yves Tumor - Safe in the Hands of Love Review |work=The Quietus |date=September 6, 2018 |accessdate=September 9, 2018}} Sypros Statis of PopMatters wrote, "What pushes Safe in the Hands of Love beyond the producer's previous works is the emotion that the record transmits. No matter if the synths are harsh, or the rhythm section arrives with the perfect groove, this is a work filled with an emotive purpose, and it is that core that makes it such a wonderful listen."

Tiny Mix Tapes writer Sam Goldner said, "Bowie's only consistent trajectory has been one of tearing down his mythos even as his builds it, and his latest manages to knock down yet another wall as he steps more fully into the light than he's ever dared tread before. On Safe in the Hands of Love, Yves Tumor isn't concerned with being "experimental;" he's simply concerned with being." Resident Advisor{{'}}s Matthew McDermott wrote, "Yves Tumor joins the ranks of Arca and SOPHIE at the millennial generation's pop vanguard, a group whose fluid approach to music and imagery is eradicating the gap between underground and mainstream." The Wire said, "Sometimes the sensuousness of Serpent Music is missed, but Tumor's drive to take this radically new music to audiences as big as Blake's, Ocean's or even Radiohead's is exhilarating." MusicOMH critic Ben Devlin called the album "a fascinating synthesis of rock, plunderphonics, bass music and noise from an artist that remains stubbornly undefinable."

In his rave review for Pitchfork, Jayson Greene wrote, "You get the sense, maybe, that Tumor is carrying around other people's secrets, and that Safe in the Hands of Love is so cavernous-sounding, in part, to accommodate them. Holding all of this together is a stew of feelings—dread, sensuousness, ecstasy, terror—that melt into a mood so pungent and pervasive that people who grew up inside all kinds of different music will be beckoned towards it. Ambient electronic, dream-pop, experimental noise, '90s R&B, even late-'90s alt-rock—Tumor's music is fluid and generous enough to contain it all."

Safe in the Hands of Love was ranked the 50th best release of the year in The Wire magazine's annual critics' poll.{{Cite magazine |title=2018 Rewind: Releases of the Year 1–50|date=January 2019 |magazine=The Wire |issue=419 |page=37 |location=London |url=https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/72526/page/37 |url-access=subscription |via=Exact Editions}} {{subscription required}}

{{Track listing

| total_length = 41:57

| all_writing = Yves Tumor, except track 2, co-written by Croatian Amor, and track 7, lyrics written by Oxhy

| title1 = Faith in Nothing Except in Salvation

| length1 = 1:33

| title2 = Economy of Freedom

| note2 = with Croatian Amor

| length2 = 4:55

| title3 = Honesty

| length3 = 5:01

| title4 = Noid

| length4 = 3:29

| title5 = Licking an Orchid

| note5 = featuring James K

| length5 = 4:38

| title6 = Lifetime

| length6 = 3:42

| title7 = Hope in Suffering (Escaping Oblivion & Overcoming Powerlessness)

| note7 = featuring Oxhy and Puce Mary

| length7 = 4:56

| title8 = Recognizing the Enemy

| length8 = 4:49

| title9 = All the Love We Have Now

| length9 = 3:22

| title10 = Let the Lioness in You Flow Freely

| length10 = 5:32

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Safe in the Hands of Love {{nobold|– Japanese edition (bonus track)}}{{cite web |url=https://honto.jp/netstore/pd-cd_89178078.html |title=Safe In The Hands Of Love【CD】/Yves Tumor [BRC584] |website=honto.jp |accessdate=November 7, 2018}}

| title11 = Applaud

| length11 = 3:12

| total_length = 45:09

}}

Sample credits

• "Faith in Nothing Except in Salvation" contains a sample of "Swahililand" written and recorded by Ahmad Jamal
• "Noid" contains samples of "Grace", written by Ronnie Laws and Roxanne J. Seeman and recorded by Sylvia St. James
• "Let the Lioness in You Flow Freely" contains a sample of "Angel Fire", written and recorded by Jan Haflin

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Safe in the Hands of Love.{{cite AV media notes |title=Safe in the Hands of Love |others=Yves Tumor |publisher=Domino Recording Company |year=2018 |type=LP liner notes |id=WARPLP293}}

{{div col}}

• Yves Tumor – vocals; arrangement {{small|(track 2)}}
• Croatian Amor – arrangement {{small|(track 2)}}
• Will Artope – trumpet {{small|(tracks 1, 6, 10)}}
• Luke Niccoli – bass guitar {{small|(tracks 3–5)}}
• Evan Johns – drums {{small|(tracks 4–6)}}
• Andreas Emanuel – electric guitar {{small|(track 4)}}; additional electric guitar {{small|(track 6)}}
• James K – vocals {{small|(track 5)}}; additional violin {{small|(track 7)}}
• Derek Stein – cello {{small|(tracks 6–8)}}
• James Ferraro – additional grand piano {{small|(track 6)}}
• Oxhy – vocals {{small|(track 7)}}
• Jon Peven – additional percussion {{small|(track 8)}}

{{div col end}}

{{div col}}

• Yves Tumor – production
• Justin Raisen – co-production {{small|(tracks 1–8, 10)}}; engineering
• Mahssa Taghinia – executive production, management
• Luke Niccoli – additional production, additional engineering, additional editing
• Puce Mary – additional production {{small|(track 7)}}
• Paul Corley – mixing
• Dave Cooley – mastering

{{div col end}}

{{div col}}

• Yves Tumor – creative direction, models casting
• Isamaya Ffrench – creative direction, art direction, makeup
• Mahssa Taghinia – creative direction
• Collin Fletcher – design
• Bliss Serenity Resting – logo, additional design
• Evanie Frausto – hair
• Midland Agency – models casting
• Nick Royal – wardrobe, style
• Jordan Hemingway – photography, video, production

{{div col end}}

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Category:2018 albums

Category:Warp Records albums

Category:Albums produced by Justin Raisen

Category:Yves Tumor albums

Category:Experimental pop albums