Reward is the fifth studio album by Welsh musician Cate Le Bon, released on 24 May 2019 by Mexican Summer.[4]

Reward
A woman in a red dress (Cate Le Bon herself) walking precariously down the side of a steep boulder.
Studio album by
Released24 May 2019 (2019-05-24)
Genre
Length42:43
LabelMexican Summer
Producer
Cate Le Bon chronology
Crab Day
(2016)
Reward
(2019)
Pompeii
(2022)
Singles from Reward
  1. "Daylight Matters"
    Released: 20 March 2019[1]
  2. "Home to You"
    Released: 16 April 2019[2]
  3. "The Light"
    Released: 2 May 2019[3]

Composition

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Reward dives into "revelatory" art pop and is a "lurid rush" of avant-pop music.[5][6]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.2/10[7]
Metacritic87/100[8]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [9]
Exclaim!8/10[6]
Financial Times     [10]
The Guardian     [11]
Mojo     [12]
Pitchfork8.4/10[13]
Q     [14]
Rolling Stone     [5]
The Times     [15]
Uncut9/10[16]

Reward was met with universal acclaim reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 87, based on 18 reviews.[8]

Track listing

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Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Miami"5:17
2."Daylight Matters"4:18
3."Home to You"5:27
4."Mother's Mother's Magazines"4:17
5."Here It Comes Again"3:24
Side two
No.TitleLength
6."Sad Nudes"3:08
7."The Light"4:51
8."Magnificent Gestures"5:00
9."You Don't Love Me"3:06
10."Meet the Man"3:55
Total length:42:43

Personnel

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Credits are adapted from the Reward liner notes.[17]

Musicians

Technical

Artwork and design

  • Phil Collins / Shady Lane Productions – art direction
  • Ivana Kličković – photography & styling
  • Andrea Bennett, Lisa Breitfeld, and Christian Fritzenwanker – hair & makeup
  • H. Hawkline – design and layout

Charts

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Chart (2019) Peak
position
Scottish Albums (OCC)[18] 32
UK Albums (OCC)[19] 86
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[20]
8
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[21]
32
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[22]
35

References

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  1. ^ Blais-Billie, Braudie (20 March 2019). "Cate Le Bon Announces New Album "Reward"". Pitchfork. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  2. ^ "Home To You – Single by Cate Le Bon". iTunes Store. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  3. ^ "The Light – Single by Cate Le Bon". iTunes Store. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  4. ^ Vozick-Levinson, Simon (24 May 2019). "How Cate Le Bon Built Her Best Album Yet". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  5. ^ a b Martoccio, Angie (23 May 2019). "Cate Le Bon Turns Solitude Into Revelatory Art-Pop on 'Reward'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  6. ^ a b Mohammed, Jenna (21 May 2019). "Cate Le Bon: Reward". Exclaim!. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  7. ^ "Reward by Cate Le Bon reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  8. ^ a b "Reward by Cate Le Bon Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  9. ^ Thomas, Fred. "Reward – Cate Le Bon". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  10. ^ Hunter-Tilney, Ludovic (24 May 2019). "Cate Le Bon: Reward — square pegs and round holes". Financial Times. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  11. ^ Petridis, Alexis (23 May 2019). "Cate Le Bon: Reward review – a mind unravelling in Cumbria". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  12. ^ Segal, Victoria (June 2019). "Cate Le Bon: Reward". Mojo (307): 89.
  13. ^ Sodomsky, Sam (28 May 2019). "Cate Le Bon: Reward". Pitchfork. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  14. ^ Catchpole, Chris (July 2019). "Only the Lonely". Q (399): 107.
  15. ^ Hodgkinson, Will (24 May 2019). "Cate Le Bon: Reward review". The Times. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  16. ^ Martin, Piers (June 2019). "Cate Le Bon: Reward". Uncut (265): 30.
  17. ^ Reward (CD booklet). Cate Le Bon. Mexican Summer. 2019.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  18. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  19. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  20. ^ "Heatseekers Albums". Billboard. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  21. ^ "Independent Albums". Billboard. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  22. ^ "Tastemaker Albums". Billboard. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
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