The Spell (Alphabeat album)

The Spell
Studio album by Alphabeat
Released	26 October 2009 (2009-10-26)
Genre	Dance-pop, Europop, house, electropop, synthpop
Length	37:22
Label	Copenhagen
Producer	Anders SG, Anders B, Troels Hansen, Rasmus Nagel, Jonas Quant, Mike Spencer, Richard "Biff" Stannard
Alphabeat chronology
Alphabeat (2007) The Spell (2009)
Alternative cover
The Beat Is... cover
Singles from The Spell
"The Spell" Released: 21 September 2009 "Hole in My Heart" Released: 22 February 2010 "DJ" Released: 9 January 2010 "Heat Wave" Released: 21 June 2010

The Spell is the second studio album by Danish pop group Alphabeat. It was released in Denmark on 26 October 2009 by Copenhagen Records. Alphabeat stated their second album moved away from the pop roots of their debut album, Alphabeat, in favour of popular dance acts of the 1990s such as Snap! and Black Box.^[1][2] Lead single "The Spell" uses keyboard chords very similar to Cut 'N' Move's 1991 classic "Get Serious", with band member Anders SG saying the song was especially inspired by Black Box's 1990 song "I Don't Know Anybody Else".^[2][3]

The album was originally set to be released in the United Kingdom one week after the original Danish release,^[1][2] but was eventually released on 1 March 2010, followed by the second single, "Hole in My Heart".^[3] As announced by the band through their Facebook page on 27 January 2010,^[4] UK and international pressings of the album were retitled The Beat Is... including the bonus track "Till I Get Round".

In November 2010, the album earned Alphabeat the Danish Music Award for Danish Group of the Year.^[5]

Contents 1 Singles 2 Critical reception 3 Track listing 4 Charts 4.1 Weekly charts 4.2 Certifications 4.3 Year-end charts 5 Release history 6 References

Singles

"The Spell" was released in Denmark on 21 September 2009, serving as the lead single from the album. It topped the Danish Singles Chart for four non-consecutive weeks, while becoming a top twenty hit in Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. "Hole in My Heart" was released as the album's second single in the UK on 22 February 2010, peaking at twenty-nine on the UK Singles Chart. "DJ" is the album's third single overall. Released as the album's second single in Denmark on 9 January 2010, the track peaked at number six in Denmark. For the UK release on 31 May 2010, the single was remixed by Biffco and promoted as "DJ (I Could Be Dancing)", but failed to chart within the UK top 100. "Heat Wave" is overall the album's fourth single, released in Denmark on 21 June 2010.^[6] It charted at number four in Denmark, the group's second highest-peaking single in their home country. The video for the single was released on 11 August 2010.^[7]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(58/100)[8]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[9]
BBC Music	(fairly negative)[10]
Daily Express	(3/5)[11]
Drowned in Sound	(1/10)[12]
entertainment.ie	[13]
The Guardian	[14]
musicOMH	[15]
NME	(5/10)[16]
The Observer	(positive)[17]
The Times	[18]

The Spell received mixed to positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 58, based on 7 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average reviews".^[8] K. Ross Hoffman of Allmusic viewed the album as "an even glossier, more unabashedly poptastic affair than their first album. Continuing in the overtly dancy direction signaled by the tracks added to their debut's re-release (in particular 'Touch Me Touching You') and the popular Pete Hammond remix of 'Boyfriend,' and slightly updating the band's oh-so-'80s touchstones, Beat takes its cues from turn of the '90s club music: Hi-NRG, Euro-beat, hip-house, and the Scandinavian synth-reggae of Ace of Base."^[9] Hugh Montgomery wrote for The Observer that the album finds the group "appropriating the handbag house sound that was the cornerstone of provincial clubs circa 1995. Thus jittery piano riffs and hands-in-the-air breakdowns abound, while singer Stine hollers dancefloor doggerel."^[17] Simon Gage from Daily Express described the songs as "chirpy and silly with witty lyrics", while calling the music itself "Euro-nonsense at its finest."^[11] The Guardian's Michael Hann, however, believed that "[t]he glee that infused that first album has been swamped by endless staccato synth or piano riffs, all of which sound like a score of minor hits from a generation ago."^[14] Mike Diver of BBC Music agreed, stating, "With its makers performing like they'd rather be elsewhere, compositions finalised by playing percentages rather than the passion that fuelled their debut, The Beat Is… represents a nadir for a group once heralded as purveyors of the very brightest pop."^[10]

Stephen Kelly of the NME commented that "Alphabeat have bravely stripped away all the bubblegum that originally made them popular in favour of the Euro-dance years of the late-'80s/early-'90s. The result is stronger than you might think, but too inconsistent and devoid of depth to stand out on a battlefield where Gaga rules all."^[16] The Times critic Peter Paphides opined that "their second album varies the tempo and tone without sacrificing the joyful execution. The ultra-catchy single, 'The Spell', is an apt microcosm of a whole that peaks with the Italo-house urgency of '365 Degrees'. But, if 'Chess'' resemblance to Ace of Base strikes you as a bad thing, the rest may not appeal to you either."^[18] Michael Cragg of musicOMH noted that "[t]hings start promisingly, [...] with the first four songs zipping by in a blaze of joyfully cheesy beats ('The Spell'), '90s rave piano ('Hole In My Heart') and neat vocal interplay between singers Anders SG and Stine Bramsen ('DJ')", but felt that the remainder of the album "lacks any sparkle or panache, with the band falling foul of a very current musical disease; the Auto-Tune obsession."^[15] Lauren Murphy from entertainment.ie concluded that "Alphabeat may have lost some of their magic, but they admittedly make reparations with the damned catchy 'Heat Wave' and 'The Right Thing', two of the peppiest tunes on offer here. Unfortunately, it's not quite enough to prevent this album from being something of an anticlimax. A highly stylised one, sure – but a disappointment, nonetheless."^[13] Aaron Lavery was emphatic in his review for Drowned in Sound, referring to the album as "an absolute abomination of a record", while adding, "Gone is any sense of personality or charm that Alphabeat once had, to be replaced by masses of Autotuned vocals, processed beats and batteries of keyboard sounds that haven't been aired since Ace Of Base and 2Unlimited ruled the waves."^[12]

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2010) Peak position Danish Albums Chart[22] 5 Dutch Albums Chart[23] 96 UK Albums Chart[24] 39

Certifications Country Certification Denmark Platinum[25] Year-end charts Chart (2009) Position Danish Albums Chart[25] 36 Chart (2010) Position Danish Albums Chart[25] 22

Release history

Country	Date	Label
Denmark	26 October 2009[26]	Copenhagen Records
United Kingdom	1 March 2010[27]	Fascination Records, Polydor Records
Germany	2 March 2010[28]	Universal Music
Netherlands	12 March 2010[29]

References

Alphabeat Stine Bramsen · Anders B · Troels Hansen · Rasmus Nagel · Anders Reinholdt · Anders SG Studio albums Alphabeat · The Spell Singles "Boyfriend" · "10.000 Nights of Thunder" · "Fantastic 6" · "Fascination" · "Go-Go" · "What Is Happening" · "The Spell" · "DJ" · "Hole in My Heart" · "Heat Wave" Other articles Alphabeat discography · Copenhagen Records · Polydor Records (UMG)