Heligoland (album)


Heligoland is the fifth studio album by English electronic music duo Massive Attack, released on 8 February 2010 by Virgin Records. Named after a German archipelago, it was their first studio album in seven years, following 100th Window. It has been certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry.

Personnel

The record features vocals of Horace Andy, as well as guest vocalists: Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio, Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz, Hope Sandoval of Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions and Mazzy Star, Guy Garvey of Elbow and Martina Topley-Bird, as well as guitar playing by Adrian Utley of Portishead, keys from Portishead collaborator John Baggott, keys and synth bass from Damon Albarn, guitar and bass by Neil Davidge and bass by Billy Fuller of Beak on various tracks.
The record features drumming from the late Jerry Fuchs and regular session and touring drummer Damon Reece. Dan Brown and Stew Jackson co-wrote "Paradise Circus", played guitar on and co-wrote "Saturday Come Slow", and part-programmed and engineered those tracks. Tim Goldsworthy contributed additional production. Most tracks were mixed with Mark "Spike" Stent and then all were mastered with Tim Young at Metropolis Studios, as with previous records. Unlike previous records, there are no personal acknowledgements on the inlay. Neil Davidge co-produced all tracks with Robert Del Naja only, though Marshall has a co-write credit on every track. The album is dedicated to the memory of Blue Lines co-producer, Jonny Dollar.

Background

The album release was preceded on 4 October 2009 by an EP, Splitting the Atom. During its gestation, the album was often referred to in the media as "LP5" or "Weather Underground".
The artwork, as with every Massive Attack album since Protection, is a collaboration between Tom Hingston and Del Naja, this time based on Del Naja's paintings. Transport for London, in line with their policy to not encourage graffiti, insisted the cover image featured on advertising posters displayed on the Tube be altered so as to not resemble "street art", obliging the artists to remove drips and fuzz from the original image.
Many other guest vocalists recorded sessions during the duo's post-100th Window era but are not featured on the album, including: Stephanie Dosen, Yolanda Quartey of Phantom Limb – effectively Robot Club's band) and Jhelisa ; and, mostly during the pre-Collected time – Mike Patton, Aku and Akwetey Orraca-Tetteh and Devang Shah of Dragons of Zynth, Elizabeth Fraser, Terry Callier, Fredo Viola, Debbie Clare, Beth Orton and Dot Allison. Mos Def and Leslie Feist were named as artists scheduled for recording sessions back in 2004. Backing tracks from Grant Marshall's side of Massive Attack's writing are known to have been sent to Alice Russell, and prepared for Sharon Jones, Patti Smith and David Bowie during the era but collaboration did not come to fruition, nor did talks with Tom Waits or Tricky, in terms of featuring as guest vocalists on the record. Post-punks Mark Stewart and Keith Levene were pictured inside Del Naja's 100 Suns studio in 2009, but played no part on the album.
"I think it's got definitely a more organic feel", Del Naja said of Heligoland. "100th Window was very much about this amalgamation of everything joining, and eventually the process was so extreme that you couldn't tell if there was a string part if it was electronic or natural. lots of organic parts that ended up sounding very electronic. It became a whole world of different processes, and we wanted to do something a bit different because we've had that experience so we wanted to do something else."
The track "Girl I Love You", one of multiple tracks featuring Horace Andy, is a drastically reworked version of a song originally written by Andy during his solo career.

Promotion

Eight low-budget films were officially released online in promotion of Heligoland:
Furthermore, a "United Snakes" video by UnitedVisualArtists, along with a previous alternate promo for "Psyche" directed by Dougal Wilson were also released.
"Paradise Circus" was licensed to be the theme tune for the BBC TV drama series Luther. "Paradise Circus" can also be heard in Gossip Girl, "Misfits", Revenge and "9 Crimes", the fourth episode of the third season of True Blood, as well as in the 2011 advert "Dominoes" for Citroën C5.
A remixed version of "Paradise Circus" by Gui Boratto, can also be heard on the Lincoln MKX commercials featuring Mad Men's John Slattery.

Release

The deluxe edition of Heligoland available digitally features bonus tracks. There is also a deluxe vinyl edition release. Heligoland Remixed has been uploaded for listening on the duo's Facebook page. The standard edition is available in a number of different coloured covers.

Burial remix album

In late 2009, Marshall suggested in an interview with Clash that there would be an equivalent remix album of Heligoland by Burial, though various comments made afterwards cast major doubt on the prospect ever being more than an idle whim in reality.
In May 2010, Del Naja told Q magazine: "It's happening, but we can't talk about it. 's very private and paranoid about it."
"Four Walls"/"Paradise Circus", a single containing Burial's "Paradise Circus" remix, along with a remix of a previously unreleased track, "Four Walls" was released in 2011.

Atlas Air EP

Massive Attack had stated in interviews their intention to release a post-Heligoland EP in May or June 2010. The record was expected to feature unreleased leftover tracks, such as "Invade Me" and "Red Light", both featuring Martina Topley-Bird.
Subsequently, Massive Attack announced plans for the limited vinyl release of 1,000 units and digital release of an Atlas Air EP on 1 November 2010, in aid of Warchild. The EP would feature an edit of the titular song; a Tim Goldsworthy remix; a Guy Garvey-penned and previously unfinished Heligoland leftover track, "Redlight", featuring Guy Garvey on vocals; and its respective remix by Warp artist, Clark.
These plans were later changed so that the release date became 22 November 2010. Also, the original version of "Redlight" was later removed from the track listing and replaced on the EP by the Jneiro Jarel remix of Atlas Air, meaning that the EP would represent no new Massive Attack production. Plus, the remix of "Redlight" would end up featuring female vocals and not those of its songs writer, Guy Garvey, as first suggested.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Heligoland.

Massive Attack

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications