Audio Out
Encyclopedia
Audio Out is the first album
by the Australia
n singer Amiel
, released in Australia by Festival Records
on 18 August 2003 (see 2003 in music
). Produced by Josh Abrahams, the album is filled with a variety of strange pop
songs which helped the album to receive favorable reviews. Amiel states that the album comes from the love of so many different kinds of music; hip hop
, folk
and pop music and she states "[the album] is my weird take on the world. It all comes from how I see the world." Audio Out debuted inside the top twenty on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart and is her highest selling album to date. The singles released from the album had minor success on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart with "Lovesong
" being a top ten hit, "Obsession (I Love You)" becoming a top twenty hit while "Tonight" failed to crack the top fifty. The album nominated Amiel for five awards at the 2003
ARIA Awards including; "Single of the Year", "Highest Selling Single", "Best Female Artist", "Breakthrough Artist - Album" and "Best Pop Release".
" in 1999 she moved to from Melbourne, Victoria to Sydney, New South Wales to work further with Abrahams and Festival Records. The first songs to emerge from the songwriting process were "Lovesong", "Side by Side" and "Claire De Lune". She then traveled to the United States
where she was introduced to the music production
team The Matrix (who were developing Avril Lavigne
at the time) and together they wrote "Obsession (I Love You)" and "All of Me". Recording began back in Melbourne where Abrahams had set up an old 1970's house full of studio gear. Many producers and musician helped with the album including Ryan Freeland (who had produced for Aimee Mann
and assisted Bob Clearmountain
), Justin Tressidor (who has worked with george
) and Brad Haehnel (who had mixed albums for Nelly Furtado
).
Amiel states "The album says what I wanted it to say. Every step along the way, everything, it all has a specific signature of me on it." Amiel states this, because she feels her music "defies the usual stereotypes". She also states "People say ‘where do we put you? You're obviously pop but are you country, are you dance, are you R‘n’B?’ I'm all those things. It's a fusion, a hybrid, and a mish-mash of all these different influences coming together. So I had to learn to say my piece and stick up for myself. I realized that if the audience was going to believe it, it had to be real and if it was going to be real it had to come from me."
magazine, states that Amiel could be Australia's answer to Jewel
, "as the music melts into the background." Duggen's states "It is perfect pop in a way that only years of writing and production can produce, but it's also soulless and easily disposable." Ending the review, he states "It's light, it's sweet, but don't expect any revelations, just 11 fucking love songs." Australian dance music magazine, In the Mix, gave the album a "thumbs up for a sophisticated electronic pop gem", stating "If your a fan of pop then this record will exceed your expectations, for the more dance orientated crowd who are thirsty for more of the same old Amiel stuff, you may find yourself a little surprised at the change but still quite satisfied with quite a few tracks especially the Josh/Amiel collaborations."
Audio Out was commercially successful in Australia and Japan
. In late August 2003, it debuted at number seventeen on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart. The album dropped out of the top fifty after five weeks and spent ten weeks in the top one hundred, leaving at number ninety-three. The Australian Recording Industry Association
awarded the album a gold certification for shipping 35,000 copies. At the 2003 ARIA Awards, the album was nominated for "Breakthrough Artist - Album" and "Best Pop Release", but lost both awards to Innocent Eyes by Delta Goodrem
. In Japan, the album debuted on the Japan Oricon
Albums Chart in February 2004 and went to peak at number twenty. It spent nineteen weeks in the chart and sold an excess of 18,824 copies.
", the first single
, became Amiel's most-successful single release, reaching number six on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart. Written by Amiel herself, she states that the song is quite autobiographical, she states "I went out with this guy, it was three dates, just dinners, it was so irrelevant, it was completely nothing. I was new in town and I wanted something, someone. But it was a waste of time. I thought: great, all I got out of that was a love song, another fucking love song." The single was released on 10 March 2003 and was certified platinum by ARIA
and was the thirty-fourth highest selling single in Australia for 2003. The song was nominated for "Single of the Year" and "Highest Selling Single" at the 2003
ARIA Awards.
The second single "Obsession (I Love You)" was written with the music production
team The Matrix and featured an electro pop vibe. It became a top-twenty hit for Amiel in Australia. "The song went through many changes and has had many lives" states Amiel. She explains "In the end it [the song] took on a kind of Nine Inch Nails
vibe. That’s what Josh is like. He becomes obsessed and driven toward a particular thing and in this song that is what he wanted. It totally works for this song to be dark and strange because it helps illustrate the obsessive, deluded character that I am playing.” The song was the twentieth highest selling single in Australia, for an Australian artist, for 2003.
"Tonight", the third single, was the album's least successful single, peaking at number sixty-four in Australia. Amiel wrote the song it in a day with Stuart Crichton and Barry Palmer
. Amiel states "Stuart had this William Orbit
kind of groove and Barry had a nice riff and it evoked an image for me. It's a meditative song. Then when we had finished Josh remixed it into a 60’s psychedelic thing, he sped it up and gave it its 'Tomorrow Never Knows' type feel. It’s easy to tell from this song that he is obsessed with The Beatles
!." The CD single was released in Australia on 29 September 2003 and featured remixes of "Tonight" by Ken Cloud and Kid Kenobi
.
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
by the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n singer Amiel
Amiel Daemion
Amiel Muki Daemion born on in New York, is an Australian pop singer, songwriter and actress. She moved to Australia with her family at the age of two and starred in films in the 1990s, including The Silver Brumby which also starred Russell Crowe and Caroline Goodall. Her music career shot to fame...
, released in Australia by Festival Records
Festival Records (Australia)
Festival Records was an Australian music recording and publishing company which was founded in Sydney in 1952 and operated until 2005....
on 18 August 2003 (see 2003 in music
2003 in music
-January:* January – following an investigation by The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and London detectives, police raids in England and the Netherlands recover nearly 500 original Beatles studio tapes, recorded during the Let It Be sessions. Five people are arrested...
). Produced by Josh Abrahams, the album is filled with a variety of strange pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
songs which helped the album to receive favorable reviews. Amiel states that the album comes from the love of so many different kinds of music; hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
, folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and pop music and she states "[the album] is my weird take on the world. It all comes from how I see the world." Audio Out debuted inside the top twenty on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart and is her highest selling album to date. The singles released from the album had minor success on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart with "Lovesong
Lovesong (Amiel song)
"Lovesong" is a pop song written by Amiel Daemion and produced by Josh Abrahams for Amiel's first album Audio Out . It was released as the album's first single in Australia as a CD single on 10 March 2003...
" being a top ten hit, "Obsession (I Love You)" becoming a top twenty hit while "Tonight" failed to crack the top fifty. The album nominated Amiel for five awards at the 2003
ARIA Music Awards of 2003
The 17th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards were held on 21 October 2003 at the Sydney Superdome.-ARIA Awards:*Album of the Year**Powderfinger – Vulture Street...
ARIA Awards including; "Single of the Year", "Highest Selling Single", "Best Female Artist", "Breakthrough Artist - Album" and "Best Pop Release".
Recording and writing
After Amiel's success with her debut single "Addicted to BassAddicted to Bass
"Addicted to Bass" is a pop single with drum and bass influences by Puretone aka Josh Abrahams featuring Amiel Daemion on vocals. It reached the top 20 of the Australian charts in 1998 and #2 in the UK in 2002.-Australian video:...
" in 1999 she moved to from Melbourne, Victoria to Sydney, New South Wales to work further with Abrahams and Festival Records. The first songs to emerge from the songwriting process were "Lovesong", "Side by Side" and "Claire De Lune". She then traveled to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
where she was introduced to the music production
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
team The Matrix (who were developing Avril Lavigne
Avril Lavigne
Avril Ramona Lavigne is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She was born in Belleville, Ontario, but spent most of her youth in the small town of Napanee. By the age of 15, she had appeared on stage with Shania Twain; by 16, she had signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records worth more...
at the time) and together they wrote "Obsession (I Love You)" and "All of Me". Recording began back in Melbourne where Abrahams had set up an old 1970's house full of studio gear. Many producers and musician helped with the album including Ryan Freeland (who had produced for Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann is an American rock singer-songwriter, guitarist and bassist.-Early life:Aimee Mann grew up in Bon Air, Virginia, graduated from Open High School in 1978 and attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, but dropped out to sing with her first punk rock band, the Young Snakes...
and assisted Bob Clearmountain
Bob Clearmountain
Bob Clearmountain is an award-winning American music engineer, mixer and producer. He has worked with many prominent names in music including Bruce Springsteen , The Rolling Stones , Bryan Adams , Robbie Williams Bob Clearmountain is an award-winning American music engineer, mixer and producer. He...
), Justin Tressidor (who has worked with george
George (band)
George are a rock band from Brisbane, Australia. Their first album, Polyserena reached #1 in the Australian Charts on 17 March 2002.-History:...
) and Brad Haehnel (who had mixed albums for Nelly Furtado
Nelly Furtado
Nelly Kim Furtado is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Furtado grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.Furtado first gained fame with her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, and its single "I'm Like a Bird", which won a 2001 Juno Award for Single of the Year and a 2002 Grammy...
).
Amiel states "The album says what I wanted it to say. Every step along the way, everything, it all has a specific signature of me on it." Amiel states this, because she feels her music "defies the usual stereotypes". She also states "People say ‘where do we put you? You're obviously pop but are you country, are you dance, are you R‘n’B?’ I'm all those things. It's a fusion, a hybrid, and a mish-mash of all these different influences coming together. So I had to learn to say my piece and stick up for myself. I realized that if the audience was going to believe it, it had to be real and if it was going to be real it had to come from me."
Critical reception and commercial performance
Audio Out received acclaim from the Australian music press. Tim Cashmere of the Australian magazine, Undercover, states that the album is full of "catchy guitar-pop tunes more aimed at a generic market than Abrahams' club hit ["Addicted to Bass"]." Tim Duggen of Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine, states that Amiel could be Australia's answer to Jewel
Jewel (singer)
Jewel Kilcher , professionally known as Jewel, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, actress and poet...
, "as the music melts into the background." Duggen's states "It is perfect pop in a way that only years of writing and production can produce, but it's also soulless and easily disposable." Ending the review, he states "It's light, it's sweet, but don't expect any revelations, just 11 fucking love songs." Australian dance music magazine, In the Mix, gave the album a "thumbs up for a sophisticated electronic pop gem", stating "If your a fan of pop then this record will exceed your expectations, for the more dance orientated crowd who are thirsty for more of the same old Amiel stuff, you may find yourself a little surprised at the change but still quite satisfied with quite a few tracks especially the Josh/Amiel collaborations."
Audio Out was commercially successful in Australia and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. In late August 2003, it debuted at number seventeen on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart. The album dropped out of the top fifty after five weeks and spent ten weeks in the top one hundred, leaving at number ninety-three. The Australian Recording Industry Association
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
awarded the album a gold certification for shipping 35,000 copies. At the 2003 ARIA Awards, the album was nominated for "Breakthrough Artist - Album" and "Best Pop Release", but lost both awards to Innocent Eyes by Delta Goodrem
Delta Goodrem
Delta Lea Goodrem is an Australian singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress. Signed to Sony at the age of 15, Goodrem rose to prominence in 2002, starring in the Australian soap opera Neighbours as Nina Tucker. Goodrem has achieved eight number-one singles and three number-one albums in her home...
. In Japan, the album debuted on the Japan Oricon
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...
Albums Chart in February 2004 and went to peak at number twenty. It spent nineteen weeks in the chart and sold an excess of 18,824 copies.
Singles
"LovesongLovesong (Amiel song)
"Lovesong" is a pop song written by Amiel Daemion and produced by Josh Abrahams for Amiel's first album Audio Out . It was released as the album's first single in Australia as a CD single on 10 March 2003...
", the first single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, became Amiel's most-successful single release, reaching number six on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart. Written by Amiel herself, she states that the song is quite autobiographical, she states "I went out with this guy, it was three dates, just dinners, it was so irrelevant, it was completely nothing. I was new in town and I wanted something, someone. But it was a waste of time. I thought: great, all I got out of that was a love song, another fucking love song." The single was released on 10 March 2003 and was certified platinum by ARIA
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
and was the thirty-fourth highest selling single in Australia for 2003. The song was nominated for "Single of the Year" and "Highest Selling Single" at the 2003
ARIA Music Awards of 2003
The 17th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards were held on 21 October 2003 at the Sydney Superdome.-ARIA Awards:*Album of the Year**Powderfinger – Vulture Street...
ARIA Awards.
The second single "Obsession (I Love You)" was written with the music production
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
team The Matrix and featured an electro pop vibe. It became a top-twenty hit for Amiel in Australia. "The song went through many changes and has had many lives" states Amiel. She explains "In the end it [the song] took on a kind of Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
vibe. That’s what Josh is like. He becomes obsessed and driven toward a particular thing and in this song that is what he wanted. It totally works for this song to be dark and strange because it helps illustrate the obsessive, deluded character that I am playing.” The song was the twentieth highest selling single in Australia, for an Australian artist, for 2003.
"Tonight", the third single, was the album's least successful single, peaking at number sixty-four in Australia. Amiel wrote the song it in a day with Stuart Crichton and Barry Palmer
Barry Palmer (musician)
Barry Palmer is an Australian musician, songwriter and record producer based in Melbourne, best known as a member of the band Hunters & Collectors, from 1988-1998.-History:...
. Amiel states "Stuart had this William Orbit
William Orbit
William Orbit is an English musician, composer and record producer, perhaps best known to most for his work on Madonna's album Ray of Light. He has also co-produced several unreleased Madonna songs originally recorded for other albums...
kind of groove and Barry had a nice riff and it evoked an image for me. It's a meditative song. Then when we had finished Josh remixed it into a 60’s psychedelic thing, he sped it up and gave it its 'Tomorrow Never Knows' type feel. It’s easy to tell from this song that he is obsessed with The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
!." The CD single was released in Australia on 29 September 2003 and featured remixes of "Tonight" by Ken Cloud and Kid Kenobi
Kid Kenobi
Kid Kenobi is an Australian DJ who won People's Choice NSW DJ of the Year in 2001 at the Australian Dance Music Awards, and Technics Australian DJ of the Year in 2001-2005. He took out first place three years running in the annual DJ poll. He has been featured in FHM, Rolling Stone, Ralph and URB...
.
Track listing
Charts
| Chart (2003) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian ARIA Albums Chart | 17 |
| Chart (2004) | Peak position |
| Japan Albums Chart | 20 |
Release history
| Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalogue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... |
18 August 2003 | Festival Records Festival Records (Australia) Festival Records was an Australian music recording and publishing company which was founded in Sydney in 1952 and operated until 2005.... |
CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... |
336352 |
| Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south... |
11 February 2004 | Sony Japan Sony Music Entertainment Japan is Sony's music arm in Japan. SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Corporation and independent from the United States-based Sony Music Entertainment due to its strength in the Japanese music industry.... |
CD | SICP-521 |
| Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
14 June 2004 | Ministry of Sound Ministry of Sound Ministry of Sound London, commonly referred to as simply Ministry of Sound or MoS, is a nightclub based in London, United Kingdom and an associated record label. It was ranked fourth in the 2010 DJ Magazine top 100 clubs poll 2010. As well as the nightclub in London, there is another in Egypt and... |
CD | ? |
Personnel
- Josh AbrahamsJosh G. AbrahamsJosh G. "Puretone" Abrahams is an Australian musician who emerged from the underground dance-music scene in the early 1990s...
– drum programming, electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, keyboardKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
. - Andy Baldwin – drum programming, keyboard.
- Stuart Crichton – drum programming (track 4).
- Amiel DaemionAmiel DaemionAmiel Muki Daemion born on in New York, is an Australian pop singer, songwriter and actress. She moved to Australia with her family at the age of two and starred in films in the 1990s, including The Silver Brumby which also starred Russell Crowe and Caroline Goodall. Her music career shot to fame...
– drum programming (tracks 8 and 9). - Andy PageAndy Page (producer)Andy Page is a producer who has frequently co-produced tracks with artists such as Sasha, Desyn Masiello, Phil K, Lee Burridge, and BT.He is also one half of the duos Farmatronic and Hi-Fi Bugs. He worked with Guy Sigsworth on the Alanis Morissette album, Flavors of Entanglement.-External links:*...
– drum programming, electric guitar, keyboard. - Krish Sharma – drum programming (track 11).