The Bachelor

by Patrick Wolf

The Bachelor cover art
  • Type: Album
  • Released: 1 June 2009
  • Label: Bloody Chamber
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Length: 52:50
  • Community rating: 3.38/5 from 4 ratings

Album Notes & Community Reviews

Originally crowd-funded and released on his own independent label, the eccentric British songwriter's fourth album is a fiercely theatrical, darkly conceptual masterpiece. The arrangements are unbelievably dense, colliding traditional Appalachian folk instruments, sweeping string sections, and harsh industrial electronics. It features prominent spoken-word contributions from actress Tilda Swinton, cementing it as his most aggressively ambitious avant-pop record.

Genres

Descriptors: medieval, fantasy, lgbtq, uncommon-time-signatures, conceptual, fairy-tale

Tracklist

  1. Kriegspiel (0:47)
  2. Hard Times (3:33)
  3. Oblivion (3:23)
  4. The Bachelor (3:13)
  5. Damaris (5:28)
  6. Thickets (4:07)
  7. Count of Casualty (5:03)
  8. Who Will? (3:31)
  9. Vulture (3:22)
  10. Blackdown (5:21)
  11. The Sun Is Often Out (3:33)
  12. Theseus (4:40)
  13. Battle (3:06)
  14. The Messenger (3:38)

Credits

  • Derek Apps - alto clarinet, bass clarinet
  • Nick Haward - bass guitar, double bass
  • Tim Wells - cello
  • Helen Rathbone - cello [twelve piece strings]
  • Ivan Hussey - cello [twelve piece strings]
  • Vicky Matthews - cello [twelve piece strings]
  • Fiona Brice - conductor [twelve piece strings], strings [string arrangements]
  • Marcello Vig - drums

More from Patrick Wolf: full discography