Mantaray
| Mantaray | ||||
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| Studio album by Siouxsie | ||||
| Released | 10 September 2007 | |||
| Recorded | 2006—2007 Riverside Studio and Stone Room, Bath, Somerset, UK France |
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| Genre | Alternative rock, pop | |||
| Length | 41:00 | |||
| Label | Universal (UK), Decca (US) | |||
| Producer | Siouxsie Sioux, Steve Evans, Charlie Jones | |||
| Siouxsie chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Mantaray | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    |
| bbc.co.uk | (favourable) |
| The Guardian | |
| Metro | |
| Q | |
| Pitchfork Media | (7.3/10) |
| Slant Magazine | |
| Spin | |
| The Times | |
| Uncut | |
Mantaray is an album by Siouxsie. It is her first full-length solo studio album after a 30-year music career as the frontwoman for Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Creatures.
The album was well received by critics, with praise focused on Siouxsie's voice and the different compositional styles.
After the success of her first solo release, the live DVD Dreamshow, which reached the No. 1 position in the UK chart in August 2005, Siouxsie received demos from several composers. Universal soon offered her a new record deal on the label W14, which was about to be created by John Williams, whom had already previously worked with her for Peepshow and Boomerang. Commenting on the news on her website in July 2006, Siouxsie stated, "At least I didn't have to get someone spray-painting my name on the front of the Universal building"! It was a reference to a famous episode which took place in early 1978 in London when record companies had been tagged one morning with the command, "Sign the Banshees, do it now".
Mantaray was co-produced by Steve Evans (who had previously worked with Robert Plant) and Charlie Jones (who had collaborated with Plant as well as with Goldfrapp). The drums were performed by Clive Deamer, who had previously played with Portishead. Evans and Jones together composed the music for the tracks "About to Happen", "If It Doesn't Kill You", "Sea of Tranquility", "They Follow You" and "Heaven and Alchemy".
It was the first time that Siouxsie worked with producers who also physically played on the record, which made a "huge difference". Instead of recording the album in one block session, she commuted from France to Bath to the producers' studio. She made several trips from the end of 2006 to May 2007, concentrating on two or three tracks at the time. This working method provided a useful overview, as she stated: "Sometimes when you're so involved in a project day in day out, you can lose sight of the goal or the object. It puts a different discipline to it". She used technology as a tool, listening to the recording process of the music from home.
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Wikipedia