Silence Is Easy
Studio album by
Starsailor
Released15 September 2003
GenrePost-Britpop, baroque pop
Length39:40
LabelEMI
Producer
Starsailor chronology
Love Is Here
(2001)		 Silence Is Easy
(2003)		 On the Outside
(2005)
Singles from Silence Is Easy
  1. "Silence Is Easy"
    Released: 1 September 2003
  2. "Born Again"
    Released: 17 November 2003
  3. "Four to the Floor"
    Released: 1 March 2004
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic53/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Drowned in Sound3/10[3]
E! OnlineA−[4]
The Guardian[5]
Pitchfork4.9/10[6]
Robert Christgau(dud)[7]
Rolling Stone[8]
Slant Magazine[9]
Uncut[10]

Silence Is Easy is the second studio album by English indie rock group Starsailor, released in September 2003 on EMI Records. The album cover is loosely based on Echo & the Bunnymen's Heaven Up Here. The song "Some of Us" was featured in an episode of Bones titled "A Boy in a Bush"[11] and in the closing credits of the Belgian film The Memory of a Killer (a.k.a. The Alzheimer Case). The album contains some of the last productions by Phil Spector before his murder conviction and imprisonment in 2009, and before his death in 2021 ("Silence Is Easy" and "White Dove"). The album sold 54,296 copies in its opening week of release, charting at No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart. It was certified gold in the UK in 2003.[12]

Critical reception

Silence Is Easy was met with "mixed or average" reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 53 based on 16 reviews.[1]

In a review for AllMusic, critic reviewer Matt Collar wrote: "Mixing alternative rock aesthetics with a melodic pop sensibility, Silence Is Easy finds the band in pretty much the same place as before with slightly better songwriting, a more mature vocal performance by Walsh, and tastefully grandiose production. The 11 tracks here, including the two Spector-produced numbers, are heartfelt, melodic rockers with some string backgrounds that fit well into the overall aesthetic of cinematic pop romanticism."[2] At Drowned in Sound, Gareth Dobson gave an unfavourable three out of ten score to the release, calling it a "perfected brand of middle-class miserablism".[3] Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian called the album "attractive listening, and it's hard not to be moved by its tenderness."[5]

Writing for Pitchfork, John O'Connor wrote: "Starsailor revels in all of these romantic pretensions on Silence Is Easy, their melodramatic, overproduced, but not altogether unpleasant sophomore release. Defiantly sappy, Silence Is Easy survives mostly on Walsh's oddly graceful singing. Unfortunately, the music on the whole is prosaic, even boring at times."[6]

Playlouder ranked it at number eight on their list of the 20 worst albums of the year.[13]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Music Was Saved"3:00
2."Fidelity"2:22
3."Some of Us"3:37
4."Silence Is Easy"3:40
5."Telling Them"4:51
6."Shark Food"3:35
7."Bring My Love"2:20
8."White Dove"3:52
9."Four to the Floor"3:50
10."Born Again"6:03
11."Restless Heart"2:01
North American bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
12."Could You Be Mine?"3:33
13."At the End of a Show"4:12
Limited edition bonus CD
No.TitleLength
1."Four to the Floor" (Thin White Duke Remix)8:11
2."Four to the Floor" (Soulsavers Mix)5:12
3."Poor Misguided Fool" (Soulsavers Remix)4:39
4."Good Souls" (Two Lone Swordsmen Remix)5:50
5."Good Souls" (Echoboy Remix)5:17
6."Good Souls" (Soulsavers Remix)5:37

Personnel

Charts

Certifications

Certifications for Silence Is Easy
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[12] Gold 100,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. 1 2 "Metacritic Review". Metacritic. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  2. 1 2 Collar, Matt. "AllMusic Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  3. 1 2 Dobson, Gareth (31 August 2003). "Drowned in Sound Review". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  4. ↑ "E! Online Review". E!. Archived from the original on 19 September 2004. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  5. 1 2 Sullivan, Caroline (12 September 2003). "The Guardian Review". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  6. 1 2 O'Connor, John (19 November 2003). "Pitchfork Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  7. ↑ "Robert Christgau Review". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  8. ↑ Hoard, Christian (5 February 2004). "Rolling Stone Review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 26 October 2007. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  9. ↑ Cinquemani, Sal (15 December 2003). "Slant Magazine Review". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  10. ↑ "Uncut Magazine Review". Uncut. 1 October 2003. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  11. ↑ "Bones Music season 1". Archived from the original on 22 October 2007. Retrieved 3 November 2007.
  12. 1 2 "British album certifications – Starsailor – Silence Is Easy". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 2 September 2020. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Silence Is Easy in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  13. ↑ "The Shitlist 2003". Playlouder. 17 December 2003. Archived from the original on 22 November 2006. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  14. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Starsailor – Silence Is Easy" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  15. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Starsailor – Silence Is Easy" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  16. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Starsailor – Silence Is Easy" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  17. ↑ "Danishcharts.dk – Starsailor – Silence Is Easy". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  18. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Starsailor – Silence Is Easy" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  19. ↑ "Starsailor: Silence Is Easy" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  20. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Starsailor – Silence Is Easy". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  21. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Starsailor – Silence Is Easy" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  22. ↑ "Irish-charts.com – Discography Starsailor". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  23. ↑ "Italiancharts.com – Starsailor – Silence Is Easy". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  24. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Starsailor – Silence Is Easy". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  25. ↑ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  26. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Starsailor – Silence Is Easy". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  27. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  28. ↑ "The Official UK Albums Chart 2003" (PDF). UKChartsPlus. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
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