Harmlessness

Harmlessness is the second studio album by American indie rock band The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die. It was announced on August 4, 2015, and was released on September 25. The title of the album is a play on the name of the band's first EP, Formlessness.[3]

For the Sanskrit term, see Ahimsa.
For other uses, see Harmless.
Harmlessness
Studio album by
The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die
ReleasedSeptember 25, 2015
Genre
Length61:03
LabelEpitaph
ProducerChris Teti
The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die chronology
Whenever, If Ever
(2013)		 Harmlessness
(2015)		 Always Foreign
(2017)

Reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic84/100[4]
Review scores
SourceRating
AbsolutePunk[5]
Alternative Press
Blurt[6]
Pitchfork7.9/10[7]
Punknews.org[8]
Under the Radar7.5/10[9]

Harmlessness charted at number 11 on the Heatseekers Albums chart,[10] and at number 46 on the Independent Albums chart.[11] Upon release, the album received critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from specialized critics, the album received an average score of 84, based on 6 reviews. Stereogum placed the album at number 13 on their top 50 albums of 2015 list.[12] James of Stereogum wrote: "It's not the kind of music that will change the world, but it might just change your life."[12] Aaron Mook of AbsolutePunk wrote: "Harmlessness is ambitious and intimidating in scope; it is not an easy listen, but with the right amount of time and dedication, it is easily one of the most rewarding listens of 2015." "January 10th, 2014" appeared on a best-of emo songs list by Vulture.[13]

Legacy

In 2017, Harmlessness placed seventh on Spin's list of the emo revival's 30 best albums, with writer Ian Cohen dubbing it "one of the most stunningly accomplished indie rock records of the past decade."[14] Several months later, Cohen called it "an astonishing redirection" for indie rock, seeing it anticipate the genre's impending fusion of the late 90's Pacific Northwest scene's "experimental and expanse" with mid-00s Canadian indie's "grandeur" that would give way to the emo revival.[15] In 2021, Exclaim!'s Adam Feibel wrote that the album had "frequently been held up as [the band's] crowning achievement".[16]

Accolades
Publication Accolade Year Rank
Stereogum The 50 Best Albums of 2015 2015 #13[17]
Brooklyn Magazine The 20 Best Rock Albums of 2015 2015 #1[18]
BrooklynVegan Our 50 Favorite Albums of 2015 2015 --[19]
Absolutepunk.net Staff's Top 30 Albums of 2015 2015 #5[20]

Track listing

All music is composed by The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die

No.TitleLength
1."You Can't Live There Forever"4:01
2."blank #11"1:09
3."January 10th, 2014"5:39
4."The Word Lisa"2:03
5."Rage Against the Dying of the Light"3:29
6."Ra Patera Dance"4:30
7."Mental Health"4:07
8."Wendover"2:57
9."We Need More Skulls"4:20
10."Haircuts for Everybody"2:44
11."Willie (For Howard)"3:10
12."I Can Be Afraid of Anything"7:10
13."Mount Hum" (ends at 8:20; hidden track "Make Mistakes" begins at 11:28)15:44
Total length:61:03
iTunes bonus track[21]
No.TitleLength
14."Make Mistakes" (appears on the CD edition as a hidden track to "Mount Hum", beginning at 11:28)4:16

Personnel

The lineup for this album is:[22]

  • David Bello - vocals
  • Nicole Shanholtzer - guitar, vocals
  • Josh Cyr - bass guitar, acoustic guitar
  • Katie Dvorak - synthesizer, vocals
  • Steven Buttery - percussion
  • Chris Teti - production, engineering, mixing, guitar, vocals, percussion
  • Nick Kwas - violin
  • Tyler Bussey - guitar, banjo, vocals
  • Greg Horbal - guitar

References
  1. Cohen, Ian (28 September 2015). "The Emo Revival Ends Here: The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die Made a Perfect Indie Rock Record | NOISEY". Noisey.vice.com. Retrieved 2015-10-12.
  2. Nassiff, Thomas (December 3, 2015). "Thomas Nassiff - Article". AbsolutePunk. Retrieved January 7, 2016.
  3. "Broken World Media - TWIABP - Harmlessness". Store.brokenworldmedia.com. Retrieved 2015-08-10.
  4. "Reviews for Harmlessness by The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die". Metacritic. 2015-10-02. Retrieved 2015-10-12.
  5. Drew Beringer (2015-09-25). "The World is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Harmlessness - Album Review". Absolutepunk.net. Retrieved 2015-10-04.
  6. Daniel Matti (2015-10-02). "The World is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Harmlessness". Blurtonline.com. Retrieved 2015-10-04.
  7. Evan Rytlewski (2015-09-28). "The World is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die: Harmlessness". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 2015-10-04.
  8. "The World is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Harmlessness". Punknews.org. 2015-09-28. Retrieved 2015-10-04.
  9. Dransfield, Scott (November 19, 2015). "The World is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die: Harmlessness". Under the Radar. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
  10. "The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Chart history (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  11. "The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Chart history (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  12. "The 50 Best Albums Of 2015: The World is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Harmlessness". Stereogum. December 1, 2015. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  13. Garland, Emma (February 13, 2020). "The 100 Greatest Emo Songs of All Time". Vulture. Archived from the original on February 13, 2020. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  14. Spin staff (June 14, 2017). "30 Best Emo Revival Albums, Ranked". Spin. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
  15. Cohen, Ian (September 29, 2017). "Q&A: The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die". Stereogum. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
  16. Feibel, Adam (October 6, 2021). "The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die Balance Anger and Ambition on 'Illusory Walls'". Exclaim!. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
  17. "The 50 Best Albums Of 2015". stereogum.com. 2015-12-01. Retrieved 2015-12-10.
  18. "The 20 Best Rock Albums of 2015". Brooklyn Magazine. 2015-12-17. Retrieved 2015-12-18.
  19. "Our Favorite Albums of 2015". Brooklyn Vegan. 2015-12-31. Retrieved 2016-01-03.
  20. "Staff's Top 30 Albums Of 2015". absolutepunk.net. 2016-01-06. Retrieved 2016-01-06.
  21. "Anonymous asked: what's the deal with 'make mistakes'? ..." theworldisabeautifulplace.com. Retrieved 2015-08-10.
  22. Sacher, Andrew (10 August 2015). "TWIABP detail new album 'Harmlessness,' share new single "January 10th, 2014"". brooklynvegan.com. Retrieved 2015-08-10.
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