Ladyhawke first revealed plans to work on a second album in a message on her official website in May 2010. She explained the four-year gap between her and Anxiety by saying, 'I had no idea how exhausted I'd be after I finished touring. I was physically incapable of doing anything. I tried to start recording about a month after I finished on tour and I turned up at the studio and just fell asleep. I was like a zombie.'
The album was recorded in New Zealand and at 's house in the in early 2011. 'Working in, I am quite bad at getting distracted, so I think it was a ploy to literally lock me away. My bedroom is right below the studio so there is no escaping. I can hear Gabriel's foot tapping in the morning as if to say 'wake up', she told.Ladyhawke revealed that the album was propelled by the stress of writing and recording new music after two years of touring: 'I love having a fire in my belly. That was something that I had because I was really scared about disappointing people, and I knew I was going to go in a different direction. I wasn't going to stick with the same vibe that I had on the first album. I was really, really excited and keen to try something new but at the same time as taking that on I knew I might be disappointing some people.
Trying to do my best under those circumstances was motivating.' She added that the album is called Anxiety 'because every song has that sort of feeling, my mindset throughout the recording was a mixture of being so tired and just being worried the whole time.
I'm a walking ball of anxiety. It completely sums up the album.' Musically, Ladyhawke stated that her second album would be 'completely different album and style' from its predecessor. 'It's lot more rocky. The tone of it is definitely darker. It's still poppy and fun, but I listened to a lot of guitar rock when I was writing it, stuff like, and I've always wanted to make a guitar record.
There's no synth, but there's some organ. It's more of a straight-up record', she told. In an interview with, she elaborated: 'I felt desperate to make a guitar record. It's still pop, but I don't know if other people would call it that. It's not '80s at all. I don't think it belongs to any decade. It's a mixed bag of everything I've listened to or inspired by over the years.
There's elements of and Blur and in some songs.' She also described the album as 'a cross between '60s and '90s guitar music'.
ArtworkAll the artwork for Anxiety was done by -based New Zealand visual artist, who was also responsible for the artwork for Ladyhawke. 'We got together to talk about the second album and the style of it and I really wanted to do something darker that was more line-drawing based and was really inspired by ' artwork. That's my favorite album cover. So Sarah brainstormed and she came up with all this amazing stuff.
She just nailed it. She's so talented', Ladyhawke said. Professional ratingsAggregate scoresSourceRating64/100Review scoresSourceRating8/106/107/105.9/104/10Anxiety received generally positive reviews from music critics.
At, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an score of 64, based on 18 reviews. Tim Sendra of wrote that 'the sound of the album is impressive' and described Anxiety as 'a great pop record with plenty of guts and a sense of reality that is so often missing from records that sound this fun.' Martyn Young of stated that 'with an album that retains all the best things about her debut while expanding on both her sound and style, Pip Brown has more than passed the second album test.'
Camilla Pia of commented that on Anxiety, Ladyhawke 'retains the sizzling electronics and soaring melodies of her first offering, but delivers them like a sultry wrong'un wracked with self doubt, battering drums and attacking every guitar she can lay her hands on.' Ben Hogwood of opined that 'everything on Anxiety is much more 'in the room' than the breezy, wide open spaces she favoured for the likes of ' and '. The vocals have more of an attitude, too.' 's dubbed Anxiety 'a buzzsaw-sharp pop-rock album, full of hard-charging hooks, with one foot toe-tapping in 1978 and the other planted firmly in 2012.' In a mixed review, Jeff Leven of magazine felt that 'the problem with Anxiety is that it features some of the same trappings as her earlier work without the same strength of songcraft.'
David Edwards of concluded, 'Ultimately, for all its merits and charms, it's unlikely that Anxiety will draw in too many people who weren't smitten the first time around. But in its more luminous moments, it also contains enough to suggest that there is still a great album lurking somewhere underneath the Ladyhawke moniker.' Ailbhe Malone of wrote that while Ladyhawke sounded 'fresh', 'there's nothing on Anxiety so arrestingly new or comfortably familiar.' 's faulted Anxiety for its influences and found that 'the songs aren't strong enough to make it feel vibrant', noting that 'only the chugging 'Cellophane' captures the giddy, filmic qualities of Ladyhawke's early songs'. Matt James of panned the album as 'slightly rubbish' and expressed, 'If this is Ladyhawke trying to find herself, she's tragically lost sight of what made her amazing in the first place.' All tracks are written by and, except where noted. Girl Like Me'2:552.'
Sunday Drive'4:043.' Black White & Blue'3:544.' Blue Eyes'3:176.' The Quick & the Dead'3:488.' Gone Gone Gone'3:5311.' Human' (hidden track; writers: Brown, )3:11Notes.
On the CD release, the hidden track 'Human' is included at the end of track 10, following a few seconds of silence, while the song appears as a separate track on the. ^ (6 June 2012). Retrieved 6 June 2012.
(New Zealand). Retrieved 28 January 2012. ITunes Store (New Zealand).
Retrieved 29 May 2012. ITunes Store (New Zealand). Archived from on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2012. Copsey, Robert (7 June 2010). Retrieved 23 June 2018.
(18 May 2010). Retrieved 29 May 2012 – via. ^.
18 January 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2018. ^. 8 December 2011.
Retrieved 20 December 2011. ^ Jones, Bridget (28 January 2011). Retrieved 29 May 2012. ^ Marchese, David (15 May 2012). Retrieved 5 April 2018. Treuen, Jason (12 August 2011).
Retrieved 29 May 2012 – via. 7 December 2011. Retrieved 23 June 2018. Chipping, Tim (16 November 2011). Archived from on 17 January 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
Copsey, Robert (28 February 2012). Retrieved 23 June 2018. 24 January 2012.
Retrieved 23 June 2018. ^. Retrieved 3 May 2014. ^ Sendra, Tim.
Retrieved 30 May 2012. ^ Young, Martyn (2 June 2012).
Retrieved 23 June 2018. ^ Edwards, David. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
^ Pia, Camilla (16 March 2012). Archived from on 6 June 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
^ (31 May 2012). Retrieved 13 December 2016.
^ Hogwood, Ben (May 2012). Retrieved 23 June 2018. ^ Malone, Ailbhe (1 June 2012).
Archived from on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2012. ^ Leven, Jeff (22 May 2012). Retrieved 28 May 2012. ^ James, Matt (1 June 2012). Archived from on 4 June 2012.
Retrieved 3 June 2012. Jones, Alan (11 June 2012).
Archived from on 10 October 2014. Retrieved 12 June 2012. ITunes Store (New Zealand). Retrieved 28 May 2012. Anxiety (liner notes). CS1 maint: others. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
Opm Album Free Download
Ladyhawke Band
(in Dutch). Retrieved 4 June 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
Retrieved 23 June 2018. Retrieved 23 June 2018. Retrieved 23 June 2018. Archived from on 24 June 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
Archived from on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2012. Archived from on 2 June 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2012. Bol.com (in Dutch). Retrieved 16 October 2012.
Retrieved 28 May 2012. Universal Music Poland (in Polish). Retrieved 28 May 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2018. Archived from on 22 June 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
Ladyhawke's self-titled debut album was a slick update of '80s pop and rock, done with plenty of brains and infused with the heart and soul of Pip Brown (aka Ladyhawke). On the long-awaited follow-up, Anxiety, she again works with producer Pascal Gabriel and the two concoct a sound that is less dreamy and far less '80s-influenced.
This time the songs have a much more '90s-inspired approach. All ten of the songs have a tight, focused feel that is punchy and direct, making everything pounce out the speakers and right into the listener's brain. The tracks have the sultry burn of prime Garbage ('The Quick & the Dead'), they have dramatic twists and turns like Pulp ('Sunday Drive'), they kick like Elastica or Sleeper ('Vaccine,' 'Gone Gone Gone'), and they generally sound amazing.
There's even a track that sounds like some kind of insane hybrid of the Breeders and Katy Perry ('Vanity') that shows just how much pop and power there is on Anxiety. From the powerhouse thump of the rhythm section and the tightly controlled growl of the guitars to the well-placed and never standard synths, the sound of the album is impressive. Brown and Gabriel build such a strong musical framework that it could swamp a less powerful singer, but Brown's dusky vocals are a perfect match. She sings of her troubled life in a voice that is easy to relate to, transmitting pain and confusion without overselling it. In fact, unless you really listen to the words (or look at the song titles), you may just hear the album as a good-time rocker and miss all the suffering under the la-la choruses and massive hooks. And the hooks are really large. While there may be no 'Paris is Burning'-sized hit this time out, the high level of intensity in the music, words, and Brown's singing - plus the cumulative thrill that builds up as song after song punches you right in the face - more than makes up for it.
It's a great pop record with plenty of guts and a sense of reality that is so often missing from records that sound this fun. Tim Sendra.