Pala is the second album from British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 alternative dance

Alternative dance

Alternative dance or indie dance is a musical genre that mixes rock subgenres with electronic dance music...

 band Friendly Fires

Friendly Fires

Friendly Fires are an English band from St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. They are currently signed to XL Recordings. Their self-titled debut album was released on 1 September 2008 and was announced as one of the shortlisted twelve for the 2009 Mercury Prize on 21 July 2009.-History:Friendly Fires...

. It was released in the UK on 16 May 2011, and charted at number 6 on the UK Albums Chart

UK Albums Chart

The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

. The album name comes from Aldous Huxley

Aldous Huxley

Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...

's final novel Island

Island (novel)

Island is the final book by English writer Aldous Huxley, published in 1962. It is the account of Will Farnaby, a cynical journalist who is shipwrecked on the fictional island of Pala. Island is Huxley's utopian counterpart to his most famous work, the 1932 novel Brave New World, itself often...

, which tells the story of a journalist shipwrecked on the fictional island of Pala, which supports a utopian society.

Singles

• "Live Those Days Tonight" is the first single taken from the album. The track received its first play on Zane Lowe
  Zane Lowe
  Zane Lowe also known as 'Zipper', is a radio DJ and television presenter. He was born in New Zealand and grew up in Auckland, where he was a presenter on the local music station Max TV, before moving to England...
  
  's show on BBC Radio 1
  BBC Radio 1
  BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
  
   on 22 March 2011. The band performed the song on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
  Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
  Late Night with Jimmy Fallon is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon on NBC. The show premiered on March 2, 2009, as the third incarnation of the Late Night franchise originated by David Letterman....
  
  , and it was released to the U.S. iTunes store
  ITunes Store
  The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
  
   the next day. In the UK, it was released on 16 May 2011, the same day as the album, and charted at number 80 on the UK Singles Chart
  UK Singles Chart
  The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
  
  .
• "Hawaiian Air" as the second single taken from the album. The music video was shot in southern Spain
  Spain
  Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
  
   in May 2011. It reached #92 in the UK.
• "Hurting" was announced as the next single by Nick Grimshaw on BBC Radio 1
  BBC Radio 1
  BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
  
   on August 3, 2011 with the release date confirmed as October 10, 2011.

Track listing

Taken from the album booklet:
(*) additional production

Notes

• "Live Those Days Tonight" contains a sample of "Albondigas" by Badonday (Toby Tobias and Dave Garnish).

Critical reception

The album received a score of 72 on Metacritic

Metacritic

Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Chart positions

Pala debuted on the UK Albums Chart

UK Albums Chart

The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

 at number 6 on 22 May 2011, that week's second highest debut, after Kate Bush

Kate Bush

Kate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...

's Director's Cut

Director's Cut (Kate Bush album)

-Singles:The only single to be released from the album was "Deeper Understanding", originally the sixth track of The Sensual World. Its lyrics describe a relationship between a lonely person and a computer which has replaced human companionship....

. It also debuted at number 2 on the albums download chart, and number 3 on the UK Indie Chart

UK Indie Chart

The UK Independent Chart or Indie Chart is a chart of the best-selling independent record releases in the UK.- History :In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered...

.

Charts (2011)	Peak Position
Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically...	29
Scottish Albums Chart	6
UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...	6
US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...	152