Crossing the Rubicon (The Sounds album)

Crossing the Rubicon is the third studio album by the Swedish new wave band The Sounds, released on 2 June 2009. On 17 April 2009, the first single "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake" was released on iTunes worldwide. The album was available to Spotify Premium customers from 29 May, and it was officially released 2 June. The second single, "Beatbox" was released on 12 January 2010 on iTunes exclusively. The track "Home Is Where Your Heart Is" is featured on the second part of the 5th season of the MTV reality show The Hills. "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake" is featured on episode eight, season one of The Vampire Diaries. "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake" was given a notable cover version by Miss Li.

Crossing the Rubicon
Studio album by
The Sounds
Released2 June 2009
Recorded2009 at Stratosphere Sound, New York City, Arnioki Studios, Malmö, Sweden, Werewolf Heart Studios, Hollywood, California, Annetenna Studios, Burbank, California, Beat360 Studios, New York
GenreNew wave, post-punk revival
Length52:06
LabelArnioki Records, Original Signal (U.S.)
ProducerThe Sounds, Adam Schlesinger, James Iha, Matt Mahaffey, Jeff Turzo, Tim Anderson, Mark Saunders, Daniel Johannson
The Sounds chronology
Live EP
(2006)		 Crossing the Rubicon
(2009)		 Something to Die For
(2011)
Alternative cover
Vinyl Edition Cover.
Singles from Crossing The Rubicon
  1. "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake"
    Released: 17 April 2009
  2. "Beatbox"
    Released: 12 January 2010

Background

For their third album, the band dropped all their producers and founded their own label, Arnioki Records, and used their own money to record Crossing the Rubicon. The band supported the album with a world tour.

Reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic(57/100)[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]
Rolling Stone[3]
Pitchfork Media3.7/10.0[4]
PopMatters[5]
Sonic Seducerfavourable[6]
Spin[7]
URB[8]

The album received mixed professional reviews.[1] Allmusic delivered a very positive rating and wrote that it was "the sound of a band reaching their potential as artists" and found that only few songs like "Beatbox" would not reach up to the band's standard.[2] Pitchfork in turn compared "Beatbox" to the music of Blondie but was reluctant to praise the entire album, writing that there had been no evolution in the music of The Sounds.[4] These two features were also noted by the German Sonic Seducer magazine although their author marked a melancholy in tracks like "Crossing The Rubicon" and "Midnight Sun" that was allegedly new for The Sounds.[6] A review by PopMatters concluded that The Killers had been delivering the same style of music before, so Crossing the Rubicon was nothing new. The band's image of "themselves as swaggering, pioneering visionaries" meant employing a backwards perspective instead of looking forward.[5] The Spin magazine's reviewer praised the tracks "4 Songs & a Fight" and "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake", but found the album generally too monotonous.[7]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by The Sounds.

No.TitleLength
1."No One Sleeps When I'm Awake"4:22
2."4 Songs & a Fight"3:24
3."My Lover"4:25
4."Dorchester Hotel"4:08
5."Beatbox"4:02
6."Underground"3:47
7."Crossing the Rubicon"2:03
8."Midnight Sun"4:30
9."Lost in Love"5:05
10."The Only Ones"4:44
11."Home Is Where Your Heart Is"5:11
12."Goodnight Freddy" (Hidden Track)6:35
iTunes Bonus Track
No.TitleLength
13."No One Sleeps When I'm Awake" (Arnioki Sessions)4:32

Notes

  • "Goodnight Freddy" begins with 2 minutes and 31 seconds of silence

All music and lyrics by Jesper Anderberg and Félix Rodríguez except:
Track 1: Lyrics by J. Anderberg, F. Rodríguez, F. Nilsson, M. Ivarsson Track 6: Lyrics by J. Anderberg, F. Rodríguez, M. Ivarsson
Track 7: Music by J. Anderberg, F. Rodríguez, F. Nilsson; Lyrics by F. Nilsson
Track 9: Music by J. Anderberg, F. Rodríguez, F. Nilsson; Lyrics by J. Anderberg, F. Rodríguez, F. Nilsson, M. Ivarsson, J. Bengtsson
Track 11: Lyrics by J. Anderberg, F. Rodríguez, F. Nilsson
Tracks 1 & 8: Additional writing by A. Schlesinger & J. Iha

Charts
Chart (2009) Peak
position
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[9] 4
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[10] 14
US Billboard 200[11] 64
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[12] 9
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[13] 25
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[14] 20

Personnel

References
  1. "Crossing The Rubicon - The Sounds". Metacritic. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  2. Sendra, Tim. "The Sounds – Crossing the Rubicon". Allmusic. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  3. Hoard, Christian (1 June 2009). "The Sounds – Crossing the Rubicon". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 14 June 2009. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  4. Thompson, Paul (12 June 2009). "The Sounds: Crossing the Rubicon". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  5. Langager, Ross (31 August 2009). "The Sounds: Crossing the Rubicon". PopMatters. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  6. Howahl, Georg (2010). "The Sounds – Crossing The Rubicon". Sonic Seducer (in German). No. 4. Thomas Vogel Media. Archived from the original on 2013-02-12.
  7. Oregan, Nadine (4 July 2009). "The Sounds, 'Crossing the Rubicon'". Spin. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  8. "The Sounds, Crossing the Rubicon". URB. 2 June 2009. Archived from the original on 12 April 2013. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
  9. "The Sounds: Crossing the Rubicon" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  10. "Swedishcharts.com – The Sounds – Crossing the Rubicon". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  11. "The Sounds Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  12. "The Sounds Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  13. "The Sounds Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  14. "The Sounds Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
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