I Want That You Are Always Happy

I Want That You Are Always Happy is the debut studio album by Australian folk band The Middle East, released in Australia and New Zealand through Spunk Records on 8 April 2011. The album was recorded, mixed and co-produced by Mark Myers.[1] Only one single, "Hunger Song", was released for the album.[2] The album debuted and peaked at number 11 on the Australian Album Charts and remained on the charts for five weeks.[3]

I Want That You Are Always Happy
Studio album by
The Middle East
Released8 April 2011 (2011-04-08)
GenreIndie folk, post-rock, ambient
Length62:50
LabelSpunk
ProducerMark Myers
The Middle East chronology
Jesus Came To My Birthday Party (EP)
(2010)		 I Want That You Are Always Happy
(2011)
Singles from I Want That You Are Always Happy
  1. "Hunger Song"
    Released: 6 June 2011

At the J Awards of 2011, the album was nominated for Australian Album of the Year.[4]

Writing and recording

I Want That You Are Always Happy was produced between tours in three studios over the course of 2010: Mark Myers' Townsville studio in late 2009/early 2010. Midlake's Denton Studios in March/April 2010. Mark Myers' Cairns studio, from August to November 2010. The album was recorded, mixed and co-produced by Mark Myers.[1] Mark Myers' Cairns studio was built by the band and it was where they recorded a majority of the album.[2]

The band members did consider self-producing the record however found they had a lack of experience and knowledge in production. Rohin Jones spoke about how the band was never pleased with the final product and kept restarting, which lead to them recording throughout the year: "we scrapped it and then tried it again and scrapped that and tried it again and scrapped that, so we’ve really pieced it together over time. And maybe that’s just how we work and we haven’t come to terms with it yet, but it’s definitely not the best process for writing an album."[5]

Jordan Ireland was critical about the album: "With this album I don’t really feel like we nailed it, we’re definitely falling into a lot of categories that’ve been done before and I don’t feel like it’s anything completely original or anything like that, but that’s kind of the goal that we’re heading towards."[5]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
RHUM[6]
theAUreview[7]
The Brag[8]

The album peaked at number 11 on the Australian Album Charts.[3]

Track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Black Death 1349"2:59
2."My Grandma Was Pearl Hall"5:31
3."As I Go To See Janey"4:04
4."Jesus Came To My Birthday Party"3:11
5."Land Of The Bloody Unknown"3:15
6."Very Many"5:32
7."Sydney To Newcastle"2:36
8."Mount Morgan"5:14
9."Months"4:00
10."Dan's Silverleaf"4:15
11."Hunger Song"4:21
12."Ninth Avenue Reverie"4:58
13."Deep Water"8:19
14."Mount Morgan End"3:13
iTunes bonus track[9]
No.TitleLength
15."My Baby"5:15

Chart performance
Chart (2011) Peak position
Australian Albums Chart 11[3]

References
  1. ""The Middle East - I Want That You Are Always Happy" Album Information". Music.is-amazing.com. 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  2. "The Middle East announce debut album". Clixie. April 16, 2011. Archived from the original on April 6, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
  3. Steffen Hung. "The Middle East - I Want That You Are Always Happy: Statistical charting information". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  4. "The J Award 2011". Triple J. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  5. Luke Grundy (June 17, 2011). "Tom Waits, disillusionment and shit: The Middle East". The Line Of Best Fit. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
  6. "Album Review: The Middle East - I Want That You Are Always Happy". RHUM Magazine. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  7. "The Middle East - I Want That You Are Always Happy (2011 LP)". theAUreview. 12 April 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  8. "Album Review: The Middle East – I Want That You Are Always Happy". The Brag. 18 April 2011. Archived from the original on 22 August 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  9. ""The Middle East - I Want That You Are Always Happy": iTunes Preview". Itunes.apple.com. 2011-04-08. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
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