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A Beautiful Blur

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Beautiful Blur[a]
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 29, 2023 (2023-09-29)
Genre
Length47:37
Label
Producer
LANY chronology
gg bb xx
(2021)
A Beautiful Blur[a]
(2023)
Singles from A Beautiful Blur
  1. "Congrats"
    Released: August 24, 2022
  2. "Love at First Fight"
    Released: June 7, 2023
  3. "Alonica"
    Released: July 7, 2023
  4. "XXL"
    Released: August 4, 2023
  5. "Home Is Where the Hurt Is"
    Released: September 12, 2023

A Beautiful Blur[1] is the fifth studio album by American alternative rock duo LANY. Released on September 29, 2023, through Sunset Garden and Virgin, it is the follow-up to 2021's gg bb xx,[2] their first album for Virgin since departing from Polydor, and their first album without keyboardist/guitarist Leslie Priest.

Background and development

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The writing for the album came after Les Priest's departure. Priest had become less involved with the band over time, and in an interview for Hypebeast, Paul Klein stated, "To be super honest, it hasn't changed at all. We support Les and everything that he does, and obviously, he has given us his blessing to continue on in this band. The first album, we made it just the three of us in a kitchen on a Dell computer. Les was kind of our engineer, less of a traditional keyboardist. Over the next few albums, we began working with people who were older and wiser, and we learned from them. Really, the only thing that has changed was who was behind the computer." After the band had fulfilled their record contract with Universal/Polydor, they decided not to resign, stating it gave the band more creative freedom and time to write and record their next album.[3]

Promotion

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The album was announced on 29 May 2023 via posts on social media, followed by the first single "Love at First Fight".[4] To promote the album, the band announced a European and an Asian tour.[5][6]

On September 18, the band officially announced that they had changed the album name from I Really Really Hope So to A Beautiful Blur, stating the album's title was originally A Beautiful Blur, and also changed the album art.

A small promotional and acoustic tour was announced on 25 September 2023, through the US, entitled "A Beautiful Blur *IRL".[7]

Track listing

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A Beautiful Blur track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."XXL"Paul Klein, James Abrahart, Jesse Saint John, Andrew Goldstein3:27
2."Out of My League"Klein, Abrahart, Madison Love, Johnathan Simpson3:26
3."Sugar & Cinnamon"Klein, Abrahart, Love, Simpson3:36
4."I Pray"Klein, Sasha Alex Sloan, Henry Allen3:03
5."Home Is Where the Hurt Is"Klein, Phil Plested, Tom Barnes, Pete Keller, Ben Kohn4:01
6."It Even Rains in LA"Klein, Jake Goss, Leland, Goldstein3:35
7."Heartbreak Can Wait"Klein, Ryan Tedder, John Ryan3:21
8."(Saturday Night) 3:22 A.M."Klein, Sloan, King Henry4:23
9."Love at First Fight"Klein, Sloan, King Henry3:12
10."Congrats"Klein, Sloan, King Henry3:37
11."'Cause You Have To"Klein, Abrahart, John, Goldstein4:11
12."Alonica"Klein, Goss, Aodhan King, Mike Crossey3:58
13."No"Klein, Sloan, King Henry3:47
Total length:47:37

Personnel

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LANY

  • Paul Klein – lead vocals (all tracks), guitars (tracks 1–11, 13), bass guitar (all tracks), keyboards (all tracks)
  • Jake Goss – drums (all)

Additional personnel

  • Taylor Johnson – guitars (tracks 1–4, 6, 9–12)
  • Mike Crossey – production
  • Stephen Sesso – engineer
  • Robin Schmidt – mastering engineer

Charts

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Chart performance for A Beautiful Blur
Chart (2023) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[8] 4
UK Record Store Albums (OCC)[9] 13
US Billboard 200[10] 120
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[11] 26
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[12] 16

Notes

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  1. ^ The album was originally announced as "I Really Really Hope So", and some physical copies still carry the original name.

References

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  1. ^ Klein, Paul (September 18, 2023). "a beautiful blur" – via instagram.com.
  2. ^ Maeoka, Toshio (June 7, 2023). "LANY Announces New Album "i really really hope so", Shares New Song "Love At First Fight"". PM Studio Co.
  3. ^ Kearns, Sarah (September 26, 2023). "Newly Independent, LANY is Exercising its Creative Autonomy". HYPEBEAST.
  4. ^ "IRRHS Announcement" – via instagram.com.
  5. ^ "LANY Asia Tour" – via instagram.com.
  6. ^ "LANY Europe Tour" – via instagram.com.
  7. ^ "A Beautiful Blur *IRL" – via instagram.com.
  8. ^ "ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart". Australian Recording Industry Association. October 9, 2023. Retrieved October 6, 2023.
  9. ^ "A BEAUTIFUL BLUR by LANY". Official Charts Company. November 30, 2023. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
  10. ^ "LANY Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved October 10, 2023.
  11. ^ "LANY Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 10, 2023.
  12. ^ "LANY Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 10, 2023.