Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune

Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune
Studio album by Swamp Dogg
Released	September 7, 2018 (2018-09-07)
Genre	Rhythm and blues soul
Length	35:56
Label	Joyful Noise Recordings
Producer	MoogStar Andrew Broder Taskforce Psymun Sen 09 Trever Hagen
Swamp Dogg chronology
The White Man Made Me Do It (2014) Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune (2018) Sorry You Couldn't Make It (2020)

Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune is a studio album by Swamp Dogg. It was released via Joyful Noise Recordings on September 7, 2018.[1] It peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart,[2] as well as number 28 on the Independent Albums chart.[3]

Production

The album was inspired by Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak.[4] After Swamp Dogg and MoogStar recorded a rough version of the album, Ryan Olson and Justin Vernon spent several years "refining, fine-tuning, and deconstructing" these recordings.[5] The album includes the cover versions of "Answer Me, My Love"[6] and "Star Dust".[7] In a 2018 interview with Los Angeles Times, Swamp Dogg said, "It's the best thing I've done since the '70s."[8]

Music videos

Music videos were created for "I'll Pretend",[9] "Lonely",[10] "Sex with Your Ex",[11] and "Star Dust".[12]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	74/100[13]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[14]
Pitchfork	7.3/10[15]
PopMatters	[16]
Rolling Stone	[17]

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 74, based on 8 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[13]

Mark Deming of AllMusic wrote, "with Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune, Swamp Dogg takes a very deep dive into the electronic side of contemporary pop, hip-hop, and R&B, and he predictably pushes it to the wall."[14] Elias Leight of Rolling Stone wrote, "On Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune's best songs, [Ryan] Olson's synth-heavy backdrops evoke the late Eighties, landing somewhere between early Chicago house music and twitchy hip-hop."[17] Jon Pareles of The New York Times commented that "Swamp Dogg sets off into a bizarre, unsettled realm of computer-manipulated vocals and surreal, anything-can-happen electronic backdrops."[18] Stephen M. Deusner of Pitchfork wrote, "The experiment succeeds because Swamp Dogg delivers on all three aspects of his album title: the ecstasies of love, the misery of loss, and the way Auto-Tune can be used to magnify those feelings."[15]

Mojo placed it at number 56 on the "Top 75 Albums of 2018" list.[19]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Answer Me, My Love"	Fred Rauch Carl Sigman Gerhard Winkler	MoogStar Andrew Broder Taskforce	2:53
2.	"Lonely"	Jerry Williams Jr. Larry Clemon Bob Jones	MoogStar	2:38
3.	"I'll Pretend" (featuring Guitar Shorty and Justin Vernon)	Jerry Williams Jr. Larry Clemon Delayne Stegall Wayne H. Stegall	MoogStar	4:24
4.	"I'm Coming with Lovin' on My Mind"	Jerry Williams Jr.	MoogStar Psymun Sen 09	4:05
5.	"$$$ Huntin'"	Jerry Williams Jr. Larry Clemon Bob Jones	MoogStar Psymun Andrew Broder	5:30
6.	"I Love Me More"	Jerry Williams Jr. Larry Clemon Bob Jones	MoogStar	4:31
7.	"Sex with Your Ex"	Jerry Williams Jr. Larry Clemon Bob Jones Beverly Green	MoogStar Andrew Broder Trever Hagen	4:31
8.	"She's All Mind All Mind"	Jerry Williams Jr. Larry Clemon	MoogStar Taskforce	4:32
9.	"Star Dust"	Hoagy Carmichael Mitchell Parish	MoogStar	3:48
Total length:				35:56

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.[20]

• Swamp Dogg – vocals, keyboards (1)
• MoogStar – production, vocals (1)
• Andrew Broder – production (1, 5, 7)
• Justin Vernon – messina (1–8), vocals (3), keyboards (4)
• Romain Bly – French horn (1, 7), arrangement (1, 7, 9)
• Alistair Sung – cello (1, 7, 9)
• Thora Margret Sveinsdottir – viola (1, 7, 9)
• Shelley Soerensen – violin (1, 7)
• Marlies van Gangelen – oboe (1, 7)
• Maaike van der Linde – flute (1, 7)
• Taskforce – production (1, 8)
• Amire Johnson – keyboards (1)
• Brian Nichols – keyboards (2, 5, 6)
• Erik Andersen – keyboards (2, 5)
• Lazerbeak – boom bap (2, 5)
• Jake Hanson – guitar (2, 6)
• Charles Hayes – saxophone (2, 8)
• Chris Bierden – bass guitar (2, 9)
• Ryan Olson – keyboard bass (3), bass guitar (6), piano (9)
• Bobby Raps – snare (3), handclap (7)
• Guitar Shorty – guitar (3), headphone bleed (3)
• Seth Rosetter – deep noise (3)
• Psymun – production (4, 5)
• Sen 09 – production (4)
• Elliot Kozel – keyboards (4)
• Morgan Whirledge – keyboards (4)
• Isaac Gale – bass guitar (4)
• V*agra – shaker (4)
• Chris Eagan – drums (5)
• Josh Berg – beat (6)
• Trever Hagen – production (7)
• Jeremy Ylvisaker – guitar (7)
• Decarlo Jackson – bass guitar (7)
• Mark McGee – shaker (7)
• Drew Christopherson – hi-hat (9)
• Andre de Ridder – violin (9)
• Mayah Kadish – violin (9)
• David McMurry – photography
• Erik Madigan Heck – photography
• David J. Woodruff – layout

Chart history

Chart (2018)	Peak position
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[21]	7
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[22]	28

References

1. Reed, Ryan (June 7, 2018). "Cult Soul Singer Swamp Dogg Previews New LP with Eerie Bon Iver Duet". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
2. "Heatseekers Albums: The week of September 22, 2018". Billboard. Archived from the original on June 21, 2019. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
3. "Independent Albums: The week of September 22, 2018". Billboard. Archived from the original on April 20, 2019. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
4. Hight, Jewly (June 7, 2018). "Swamp Dogg's 'I'll Pretend' Digs Into Auto-Tune's Soul, Featuring Justin Vernon". NPR. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
5. Bernstein, Jonathan (September 6, 2018). "Inside Swamp Dogg's Existential Soul Opus". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
6. Legaspi, Althea (July 18, 2018). "Hear Swamp Dogg's New Rendition of Classic Song 'Answer Me, My Love'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
7. Madden, Michael (November 12, 2018). "The week's best concerts: Nov. 12-15". City Pages. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
8. Wood, Mikael (September 6, 2018). "Swamp Dogg says nobody bought his last album. So he took a chance with his new one". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
9. "Swamp Dogg - I'll Pretend [feat. Bon Iver & Guitar Shorty] (Official Video)". YouTube. June 7, 2018. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
10. "Swamp Dogg - Lonely (Official Video)". YouTube. September 17, 2018. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
11. "Swamp Dogg - Sex With Your Ex (Official Video)". YouTube. November 8, 2018. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
12. "Swamp Dogg - Star Dust (Official Video)". YouTube. April 25, 2019. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
13. "Love, Loss and Auto-Tune by Swamp Dogg". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
14. Deming, Mark. "Love, Loss and Auto-Tune - Swamp Dogg". AllMusic. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
15. Deusner, Stephen M. (September 10, 2018). "Swamp Dogg: Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
16. Horowitz, Steve (September 7, 2018). "Swamp Dogg Sings About 'Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune'". PopMatters. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
17. Leight, Elias (September 7, 2018). "Review: Swamp Dogg Sinks His Teeth Into Some Eighties Grooves on 'Love, Loss and Auto-Tune'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
18. Pareles, Jon (September 5, 2018). "Justin Vernon Joins Swamp Dogg and Big Red Machine to Wrestle With Love and Death". The New York Times. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
19. Sacher, Andrew (November 19, 2018). "MOJO's Top 75 Albums of 2018". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
20. Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune (CD liner notes). Swamp Dogg. Joyful Noise Recordings. 2018. JNR269.
21. "Swamp Dogg Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
22. "Swamp Dogg Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 10, 2015.

External links

• Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune at Bandcamp
• Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune at Discogs (list of releases)