Get Tragic
Studio album by
ReleasedJanuary 25, 2019 (2019-01-25)
Studio
Length37:36
LabelJazz Life Records
ProducerNick Launay[2]
Blood Red Shoes chronology
Blood Red Shoes
(2014)
Get Tragic
(2019)
Ghosts On Tape
(2022)
Singles from Get Tragic
  1. "Mexican Dress"
    Released: 18 September 2018[3]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.7/10[4]
Metacritic82/100[5]
Review scores
SourceRating
Drowned in Sound9/10[6]
MusicOMH[7]
The Independent[8]

Get Tragic is the fifth studio album by British band Blood Red Shoes. It was released in January 2019 under Jazz Life Records.

Background and composition

After the release of the band's fourth self-titled album, the members were considering a hiatus.[9] During this period, singer Laura-Mary Carter moved to the US and collaborated with Natalie Chahal and together with drummer Jorma Vik they founded a one-off band Shit Girlfriend.[10] They released one single, "Mummy's Boy / I Don't Want To Die", on 22 April 2017. During her stay in the US, Carter suffered a broken arm in a motorcycle accident. Because of the injury, her songwriting became more vocal-oriented and she started using keyboard instruments more often.[11] Drummer Steven Ansell commented on this period: "[I] went out and took drugs and went clubbing for about half a year. I don’t remember a lot about it. Classic break-up move, right?” When the duo reunited again and started composing a new album, they decided to call it Get Tragic because of these circumstances.[12]

In an interview with the Swiss music magazine Indiespect, Laura-Mary Carter commented on the different sound of the album: "I didn’t really sing that much on the other records, how I liked to sing. It gave me time to explore my voice which was really cool. That changed how the sound of the record is and it was the biggest thing that came out for me out of that." Ansell added: "This record is much more depressing than the one before. But that’s just where we were mentally. [...] Actually, forcing ourselves to try different things, that’s a really unpleasant process. You take away all the things that are comfortable, easy and you know and like. Then you’re making music and constantly throw it away. We were exploring so many things that weren’t good enough. It was like a constant process of failure. That was quite upsetting to go through, creatively."[13]

Critical reception

Get Tragic received generally positive reviews from critics. Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating based on a range of reviews from several sources, aggregated the album's average review score to 82 out of 100, based on seven reviews.[14] MusicOMH's Sam Shepherd stated that the band "have never sounded so focused and alive" a praised its "assertive guitars and pounding drum patterns".[15] Drowned In Sound's Nicoletta Wylde concluded that "Get Tragic, quite candidly, is a virtually perfect record" because of its "catchy choruses, glam-rock guitars, electronic riffs that don’t leave your mind for days, mind-blowing lyrics",[16] Josh Gray of Clash, however, felt that the album "lacks the untethered aggression of past efforts".[17]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Eye To Eye"3:40
2."Mexican Dress"3:59
3."Bangsar"2:32
4."Nearer"3:54
5."Beverly"4:38
6."Find My Own Remorse"4:07
7."Howl"2:54
8."(Interlude)"0:49  
9."Anxiety"3:05
10."Vertigo"3:07
11."Elijah"4:55
Total length:37:36
Japan bonus track [18]
No.TitleLength
12."God Complex"3:21
Total length:41:09

Charts

Chart Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[19] 117
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[20] 60
Scottish Albums (OCC)[21] 57
UK Albums (OCC)[22] 58
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[23] 3

References

  1. "Blood Red Shoes – Interview 2018 – Brightonsfinest". Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  2. "Blood Red Shoes - Get Tragic - Vinyl LP". Rough Trade. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  3. Kenneally, Cerys (18 September 2018). "Blood Red Shoes announce new album with first single "Mexican Dress"". Thelineofbestfit.com. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  4. "Any Decent Music's Album Review". Anydecentmusic.com. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  5. "Metacritic Review". Metacritic.com. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  6. Wylde, Nicoletta (22 January 2019). "Album Review: Blood Red Shoes - Get Tragic". Drownedinsound.com. Archived from the original on 26 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  7. Shepherd, Sam (25 January 2019). "Blood Red Shoes - Get Tragic". Musicomh.com. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  8. "Album reviews: Backstreet Boys – DNA, and Blood Red Shoes – Get Tragic". The Independent. 24 January 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  9. ""We were listening to a lot of murder podcasts, and that's definitely come out on this record..." - hmv.com talks to Blood Red Shoes". HMV. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  10. "Mummy's Boy/I Don't Wanna Die [7"], by Shit Girlfriend". Shit Girlfriend. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  11. "Blood Red Shoes - Get Tragic / Jazz Life from Piccadilly Records". www.piccadillyrecords.com. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  12. "Blood Red Shoes - Get Tragic / Jazz Life from Piccadilly Records". www.piccadillyrecords.com. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  13. indiespect (3 November 2019). "Interview with Blood Red Shoes: We were too comfortable". Indiespect. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  14. Get Tragic by Blood Red Shoes, retrieved 4 October 2022
  15. Shepherd, Sam (25 January 2019). "Blood Red Shoes - Get Tragic | Album Reviews". musicOMH. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  16. "Album Review: Blood Red Shoes - Get Tragic". DrownedInSound. Archived from the original on 26 February 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  17. Interviews, Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews &; ClashMusic (25 January 2019). "Blood Red Shoes - Get Tragic". Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews. Retrieved 4 October 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. "Get Tragic" (in Japanese). p-vine.jp. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  19. "Ultratop.be – Blood Red Shoes – Get Tragic" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  20. "Offiziellecharts.de – Blood Red Shoes – Get Tragic" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  21. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  22. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  23. "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
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