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Slow Focus

2013 studio album by Fuck Buttons

Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Slow Focus is the third and final studio album by Fuck Buttons, released on 22 July 2013. It peaked at number 36 on the UK Albums Chart. It was the first album released by ATP Recordings to reach the top 40 of the UK Albums Chart.

01Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.8/10
Metacritic81/100
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic
The A.V. ClubB+
The Guardian
The Independent
NME8/10
Pitchfork8.7/10
Q
Rolling Stone
Spin8/10
Tiny Mix Tapes
Uncut8/10

Upon its release, Slow Focus received critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews and ratings from mainstream critics, the album has received a score of 81, based on 39 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".

AllMusic reviewer Heather Phares noted that Fuck Buttons' self production work was a measure of "how much they've come into their own" and that "Slow Focus delivers some of their most masterful and seemingly effortless music yet." Mike Madden, writing for Consequence of Sound, described it as "a seven-track ride at turns gloopy and glassy, invigorating and dark," noting that "all told, this is pretty epic stuff." Drowned in Sound critic Andrzej Lukowski observed that Slow Focus displayed "a strange, alien detachment" with an "undercurrent of menace", but stated that the album "isn't alienating, it's other, and it's a pleasure to take a wander around its unfamiliar landscapes". In his review for The Guardian where he commented that Slow Focus "seems slightly more commercial than its predecessor, although such things are obviously relative," Alexis Petridis concluded that "the only real response is to listen and gawp." NME reviewer Noel Gardner opined that it was "all-consuming and consistently impressive from the off" and stated that the band "can be proud of what they continue to achieve."

Year-end rankings

Publication List Rank Ref
The A.V. Club The 23 Best Albums of 2013 12
Bleep Top Albums of the Year 2013 9
Clash Clash's Top Albums of 2013 19
Crack Magazine Top 100 Albums of 2013 44
musicOMH Top 100 Albums of 2013 36
NME NME's 50 Best Albums of 2013 40
Pitchfork Top 50 Best Albums of 2013 46
Rolling Stone 50 Best Albums of 2013 48
Slant Magazine The 25 Best Albums of 2013 19
Under the Radar Top 125 Albums of 2013 91

"N/A" indicates that the publication did not rank the works included in their year-end list.

Track Accolades

Track Publication List Rank Ref
"Hidden Xs" Bleep Top 100 Tracks of 2013 N/A

"N/A" indicates that the publication did not rank the works included in their year-end list.

02Track listing

All tracks are written by Fuck Buttons.

No.TitleLength
1."Brainfreeze"8:33
2."Year of the Dog"4:38
3."The Red Wing"7:48
4."Sentients"6:24
5."Prince's Prize"4:22
6."Stalker"10:08
7."Hidden Xs"10:12

03Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.

  • Fuck Buttons, music, production, recording, mixing
  • Mat Rowlands, initial track recording
  • Nina Walsh, initial track recording
  • Jimmy Robertson, mix engineering
  • Bob Weston, mastering
  • Benjamin John Power, artwork
  • Alex de Mora, photography

04Charts

Chart Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)48
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)138
UK Albums (Official Charts)36
Watch videos about Slow FocusExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Slow Focus, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

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