Quarantine (Laurel Halo album)


Quarantine is the debut album by American electronic musician Laurel Halo, released on May 21, 2012 by Hyperdub. It received acclaim from critics, and was named release of the year by British magazine The Wire.

Background

Halo recorded Quarantine between July 2011 and February 2012 primarily in her home studio, with some instrument tracks also recorded in London. She made over thirty demos, eighteen of which were deleted. In November 2011, Halo sent the LP demos to Hyperdub label head Steve Goodman, who responded with positive interest.
Initially applying extensive echo and reverb to her vocals, which she found "supremely boring", Halo instead opted to leave them dry and unadorned, stating that "it was tempting to use autotune but I decided against it because there's this brutal, sensual ugliness in the vocals uncorrected, and painfully human vocals made sense." Speaking to Fact, she described the album's thematic focus as "contrails, trauma, volatile chemicals, viruses."
The album cover features an adaptation of Harakiri School Girls, a work by Makoto Aida which Halo chose for the artwork after seeing it at an exhibition on Japanese pop art in New York. She stated that "I love that it's brutal and violent but colourful and slow to sink in."

Critical reception

Quarantine received positive critical reviews from critics, with an aggregate score of 80 out of 100 on Metacritic. The Wire named Quarantine as the "release of the year" in its annual critics' poll. Ian Cohen of Pitchfork called the album "something definitive" and Halo's "best and most cohesive work to date." The Quietus called it "one of this year's most intriguing and divisive listens," and noted that "what's blasted her music headlong into the future is its re-integration of those most ancient of musical devices – the unadorned human voice, verse/chorus structures – into environments they’re usually so thoroughly unfamiliar with." The Guardian wrote that "it manages to sidestep pretension at almost every turn, partly due to the near-naive vocals that dominate the warm crackle and glow." Resident Advisor states "Quarantine binds her past sounds into a toxic, lush blend of ambient suspension and disorienting detail," and called the album Halo's "most immersive and beautiful work to date."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Quarantine.