Evanescence (album)
| Evanescence | |
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| Release Date | October 7, 2011 |
| Recorded | Nashville, Tennessee; 2011[1][2] |
| Label | Wind-up Records |
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| Previous release | The Open Door (2006) |
| Next release | TBA |
| Singles |
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- This article is about the album. For the band, see [[Evanescence]].
Evanescence is Evanescence's third studio self-titled album released by Wind-up Records on October 7, 2011. It was originally scheduled for a late August or early September 2010 release[3] but was delayed due to a number of circumstances which lead to the band spending another year writing and improving new material as well as a change in producers. Amy announced through her Twitter account that the album would finally be released on October 4th, 2011, but MTV News confirmed on July 11th, 2011 that the album had been pushed a week back by Wind-up Records. The cover of the album was first shown on Amazon.com on August 29th, 2011.
As of Spring 2012, the album has sold 850,000+ copies in the US.[4] It has also been certified Gold in Australia[5] and Canada,[6] and certified Silver in the UK.[7]
Conception
Although Amy had indicated in earlier interviews with Spin and Gauntlet in 2008 she had begun writing new material, it wasn't until 2009 that she confirmed the band were working on the followup to 2006's The Open Door.
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We're currently working on new material that I'm extremely excited about. I believe that to make great music you have to give yourself the freedom to evolve. I don't see the point in making the same record twice, so I always want to challenge myself to make something better, stronger, and more interesting than before. That takes time, but it's worth the wait for me. Hopefully, it will be for the fans too. Look out for new music next year...[8] | 
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In later posts on EvThreads she gave a vague indication of what new material for Evanescence could sound like and the album process.
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I don't want to give away too much about what it will sound like, because so much will change before the end, but its... not what you would expect. Its definitely not happy married music, but its not like I'm dying the whole time either. Its dark, sarcastic, fun, strange, familiar and very different at the same time.[9] |
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There's been a lot of writing going on this summer and I'm starting to get really excited. My good friend Will happens to also be a great producer, writer and programmer (lucky for me!) and we've been slaving away at some pretty interesting stuff lately... I'm not giving anything away just yet. Terry and I have been working together this week at my place just like old times and life is pretty good.[10] |
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During 2009 Amy co-wrote most of the album with Will "Science" Hunt in New York and Texas. The pair had crafted and recorded much of the electronic programming that was to be used in the forthcoming record together.[11] Amy had also written some of the music with Terry Balsamo and Tim McCord.[12]
In 2010, Evanescence officially entered the studio on February 22nd to begin recording the album with producer Steve Lillywhite who is known for working with bands such as U2 and Rolling Stones. Will Hunt returned as the band's drummer with Will "Science" Hunt also joining the band in the studio as programmer and secondary drummer. David Campbell would also return for string arrangements.[11]
The Lillywhite sessions (2010)
In interviews with Spin.com[12] and Rolling Stone,[11] Amy discussed the bands work with Steve Lillywhite and the creative process for the album. She noted that music would be a mix of "sarcastic aggression" and would have a distinct electro influence that was inspired by artists such as Bjork, Massive Attack and Portishead. The album would contain a "rainbow of sounds" with some songs amazingly heavy and others completely stripped down. The band were also aiming "to take synthetic and atmospheric sounds and find a way to blur the line between organic and synthetic."[12]
Amy also disclosed further information about the themes and lyrical content through Twitter.
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Lot of 'electro' talk regarding our new album. That doesn't sum it up. Influences include: Rock, electronica, pop, classical, hip hop...[13] ...Industrial, eastern, dark soul...[14] |
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RT @: Any album title ideas? /I'm working on that right now. Its difficult because the music and themes are so diverse. Wanna help?[15]
· Some inspirations: unknown worlds, the ocean's abyss, life within dreams, strength, detachment, love and liars...[16] |
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Although progress on the album appeared to be going well, on May 21st Amy made a post on EvThreads stating the band were taking time out of the studio to write more music. She also suggested that the label was going through uncertain times which would hinder the band's progress on the album.[17] For the rest of the year the band kept relatively quiet on the status of the new record but an interview with drummer Will Hunt suggested progress on the music was going well, specifically mentioning "Lately, in the last few months, there's been a real band dynamics. It's kind of a band situation right now."[18] Amy posted later in the year on her birthday in December mentioning that it had been a tough year but she was at the time in Northern California writing music with Terry and Tim.[19]
In February 26, 2011, Amy made a post on EvThreads stating the band was getting together the following week to begin Pre-Production on the next album again.[20] Finally in April, the band announced they would be entering the studio on the 11th and that the album would coming out in Fall 2011.[21] It emerged however that the band was no longer working with Steve Lillywhite and had changed producers to Nick Raskulinecz.[22]
Amy revealed in an interview with Spin.com the reasons behind the band taking time out of the studio and the change in producer for the album.
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It wasn't coming together right. Steve wasn't the right fit. We were on this experimental trip, trying a bunch of new things, seeing what would fit. I did a lot of the writing without the band. And then when we tried to pull the two worlds together, it wasn't working.[23] |
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According to Terry, however, it wasn't necessarily Lillywhite's problem or fault that he got replaced, but it was Wind-up that wanted the "regular Evanescence record." He said that the album was something more "solo" for Amy, and later they restarted from scratch. He explained that when they showed the material to the label, they thought it wasn't "Evanescence" and he said that Amy knew that too.[24]
Amy later revealed in an interview on October 6, 2011, that it is possible that the songs from the old sessions could be released in the future in a solo release or otherwise.
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I think that some of those songs aren't right for Evanescence. Some of the songs that we had at that time could maybe be a solo thing in the future. We really do have a lot of extra songs from that time and also songs that the band wrote together; we just wrote a ton in the past few years and especially in the last one year. My head is totally focused on Evanescence right now, but I think it's totally possible that some of those songs will end up on different projects someday --maybe solo, maybe something else.[25] |
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Nick Raskulinecz sessions (2011)
After leaving the studio and parting ways with Steve Lillywhite, Amy mentioned that the future of the band was unclear. During those uncertain times the band came and reworked the material together. The songs Made of Stone, Sick, End of the Dream, Swimming Home and Secret Door were taken from the sessions with Lillywhite and were reworked.
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Then Evanescence, the group of hired guns led by the vision of Lee, became a real working band. Lee, guitarist Terry Balsamo, bassist Tim McCord, drummer Will Hunt, and programmer Will "Science" Hunt (yes, both guys share the same name) moved in with Lee and began re-working her songs and writing new material together.
"I've never felt so supported by my band members," says Lee. "We've really relied on each other. And everyone being a part of this album, from the ground up, is an entirely new approach for us. There's nobody that's just coming in to play guitar. Everybody's invested. We're more truly a band now than ever before." She adds, "We took the best songs we had, added more, and reworked them as a group. They're stronger than before… when it was more one-dimensional." |
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Taking the 19 songs they had created as a band, Evanescence entered the studio with Nick Raskulinecz who has produced albums for bands such as Alice in Chains, Deftones, Foo Fighters and more.[23]
Amy explained that she trusts Nick's opinion and he helps her at making quick decisions:
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Nick is an awesome producer. He really helped me get the plan and have confidence in the decisions that we made. For me, I have a lot of ideas and sometimes it just comes down to 'OK, everything that I'm doing I have two options!' He's awesome, because as I'm doing these things I'm asking him from the vocal booth or the piano room or whatever, 'Which one of these should I do?' He's good at helping me make a quick decision. I really trust his opinion because he makes great records.[26] |
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Amy mentioned that working with a heavy rock producer meant the album was more of a rock record now than it was before. She also noted that the band would be incorporating a variety of new sounds including synths, the harp and vintage keyboards with the Moog Tarus pedal specifically mentioned.[23]
Amy also revealed a number of tracks for the album such as My Heart Is Broken, Secret Door and Oceans. For lyrical content she also mentioned there would be a variety of themes.
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I get inspired by nature. The ocean's been a theme. Brokenness has become a little bit of theme, without necessarily offering a solution. Life can be tough sometimes. But I think it just starts with admitting, "Okay, the world's not perfect, how do we live our lives within that and not be miserable?"
There was some real struggle trying to figure out what I want this band to be. I want Evanescence to feel passionate. It's about looking for the answers and not always knowing them.[23] |
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In June 12, Amy officially revealed on her Twitter account the album would be released October 4th, 2011 and that Troy McLawhorn would be joining the band once again.[27]
Amy said in an MTV interview that 16 songs are at or near completion, but not all of them can be on the album.
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There's a huge body of work right now, 16 songs, and obviously not all of them can be on the record, and that's going to be a heartbreaking moment.[1] |
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Later it was revealed that all of the songs would be placed in a deluxe edition of the album and the standard edition would have 12 songs.[28]
Album title and artwork
On June 22 2011, Kerrang featured an interview with Amy Lee in which she announced that the new album would be titled Evanescence.[29] Amy revealed the reason for the album being self-titled:
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It's about the band; it's more of a band record. But I started thinking about it, and it's also that this whole record and the lyrical content and a lot of the things that it's about to me is about falling back in love with this thing, with Evanescence, with what I've obsessed over for a decade, longer than that. And it took me a minute, I definitely stepped away from it in a big way, and went, 'OK, guys, I don't know what we're going to do. I don't know what's going to happen here. Let's just live our lives for a while and see what happens next.'[1] |
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Amy also said she had a lot of album title ideas, but as the album became more about the band, it was the only title that felt right:
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I had a lot of album title ideas. But as it became more and more about the band...the more collaborative it became, it just felt like this is who we are, it's a band. And to have that feeling in the music where the band is so pumped up, it was just the only title that felt right. It's about falling back in love with this thing in a major way.[25] |
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The cover artwork for the self-titled album is the first one by the band that does not show Amy and only Amy on it.
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Well, both of our other records are me on the cover, and I think it's cool to have that photo, you know, that people can look at and go, 'OK, that's who that is.' But I feel like, by now, they know who we are, and I wanted something really different. I didn't feel like we had to put a photo on the cover, I wanted it to be more mysterious and more about Evanescence itself, not just me.[30] |
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As explained by Amy, this concept extends far beyond the album cover. On the album, she and the band members are exploring every aspect of the band, starting with the name itself. Because, for the first time, Evanescence is more than just Amy.
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The idea to not have any photos on the outside I thought was really cool. And all the images and the artwork is a play on the meaning of the word 'Evanescence.' It means 'to dissipate like vapor,' so I decided to go with light and vapor ... it's really about Evanescence, not just me.[30] |
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Since Evanescence's emergence on Twitter, various "Tweets" since have indicated the band have been writing and recording demos for the album:
On November 22, 2009 the band released a short jamming session on the internet that contained a sample of one such demo. People had trouble figuring out what Amy was singing in this snippet, and Amy, when asked about it on Twitter, confirmed that they were just "playing around" and that she wasn't singing anything.[31]
On March 19, 2010 they released a short video of a recording session featuring a clip of a song they were currently recording.[32] Amy later revealed on EvClub that this song's name is "Perfect Dream".
On March 24, 2010 Amy released a snippet of her recording a piano piece.[33]
On April 13, 2011 Lee released a video of Will Hunt recording the last drum part of "Erase This".
On May 11, 2011 Amy released a video of her recording the piano middle eight in "Made of Stone".
On May 29, 2011 Terry released a video of the song "New Way to Bleed" being recorded for the new album.
On June 5, 2011 Amy released a section of a song that she was finishing for the new record. This song turned out to be "Disappear".
On June 19, 2011 Amy released a video of herself recording the harp for the song called "Secret Door".
Tracklisting
Standard edition
- "What You Want"
- "Made of Stone"
- "The Change"
- "My Heart Is Broken"
- "The Other Side"
- "Erase This"
- "Lost in Paradise"
- "Sick"
- "End of the Dream"
- "Oceans"
- "Never Go Back"
- "Swimming Home"
Japanese standard edition bonus track
Deluxe edition
Disc 1 (CD)
- "What You Want"
- "Made of Stone"
- "The Change"
- "My Heart Is Broken"
- "The Other Side"
- "Erase This"
- "Lost in Paradise"
- "Sick"
- "End of the Dream"
- "Oceans"
- "Never Go Back"
- "Swimming Home"
- "New Way to Bleed"
- "Say You Will"
- "Disappear"
- "Secret Door"
Japanese deluxe edition bonus track
iTunes bonus track
- "What You Want" (Elder Jepson Remix)
Disc 2 (DVD)
- "What You Want" (Music Video)
- Making the "What You Want" Music Video – Day 1
- Making the "What You Want" Music Video – Day 2
- Behind the Scenes in the Studios
- Behind the Scenes at the Photo shoot
- On the Songs: "Secret Door"
- On the Songs: "The Change"
- On the Songs: "Never Go Back"
- On the Songs: "Made of Stone"
- On the Songs: "Disappear"
- On the Songs: "What You Want"
- On the Songs: "My Heart Is Broken"
- On the Songs: "Oceans"
- On the Songs: "Lost in Paradise"
Songs from the Lillywhite sessions
Singles
The first single
Released on Digital format in August 9, 2011
Released on CD format in September 9, 2011
The second single
Released on Digital format in November 11, 2011
"Made of Stone" (US Only)
The third single
Released on CD format in January 2012, limited to radio
The fourth single
Released on Digital format in May 25, 2012
"The Other Side" (US Only)
The fifth single
Released on CD format in June 11, 2012, limited to radio
Credits
Credits taken from Allmusic and from the liner notes of the booklet.
Lillywhite sessions credits
See alsoNotes and references
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