Aquaria (album)

Aquaria
Studio album by Boots
Released	November 13, 2015
Studio	La Fabrique, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France Space 23 Studios, Los Angeles Rare Book Room, Brooklyn, NYC
Genre	Alternative R&B experimental hip hop
Length	38:29
Label	Columbia Records
Producer	BOOTS El-P Carla Azar Gabe Wax
Boots chronology
Motorcycle Jesus (2015) Aquaria (2015)

Aquaria (styled as AQUΛRIA) is the debut studio album by American record producer, singer-songwriter, rapper and musician Boots. In the United States, the album has charted at number 14 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart.

Background

Boots came to worldwide attention in December 2013 when Beyoncé released her highly successful fifth studio album Beyoncé, for which BOOTS had written and produced several songs, including "Haunted", "Heaven" and "Blue".^[1] In May 2014, he released a mixtape titled WinterSpringSummerFall. In early 2015, he released a five-song EP Motorcycle Jesus, which served as a soundtrack album for a short film of the same title, directed by BOOTS.^[2][1] The release of his debut studio album Aquaria was announced by Columbia Records in a press release on August 20, 2015.^[2]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	68/100[3]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
The Wall Street Journal	80/100 [5]
The Guardian	[6]
The New York Times	80/100[7][3]
NME	3/5[8]
Clash	8/10[9]
Pitchfork	5.9/10[10]
Rolling Stone	[11]

Aquaria has received generally favorable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 68, based on 17 reviews.^[3]

Track listing

All tracks written by Jordan Asher, except where noted. 

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Brooklyn Gamma"	3:20
2.	"C.U.R.E."	2:55
3.	"Oraclies"	3:55
4.	"Bombs Away"	3:26
5.	"I Run Roulette"	3:48
6.	"Gallows"	1:41
7.	"Aquaria" (featuring Deradoorian) (written by Asher, Angel Deradoorian and Kirby Lauryen)	5:00
8.	"Earthquake"	3:01
9.	"Only"	4:16
10.	"Dead Come Running"	4:10
11.	"Still"	2:57

Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic^[12]

Musicians Boots – vocals, bass, clapping, drums, farfisa organ, guitar, juno, Korg M1, mouth bass, piano, timpani, toms Carla Azar – drums Matt Barrick – claves, djembe, drums, juno, toms Nick Brown – drums Anthony Coleman – horn Haley Dekle – vocals, background vocals Deradoorian – vocals Jason Disu – horn El-P – drums, synthesizer Kirby Lauryen – background vocals Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. – Jupiter Gabe Wax – electronics, guitar, moog synthesizer, synthesizer

Technical personnel Boots – drum programming, engineering, mixing, production Carla Azar – additional production Matt Barrick – additional production Mario Borgatta – mixing assistant Martin Cook – assistant engineer Rich Costey – mixing El-P – additional production, engineering, production Florian Etien – engineering Nicolas Fournier – assistant engineer Elliot Lee Hazel – photography Joe LaPorta – mastering Gabe Wax – additional production, production Stuart White – additional production, mixing

Charts

Chart (2015)	Peak position
US Top Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[13]	14

References

1. Pareles, Jon (February 14, 2015). "After His Coup With Beyoncé, Boots Strides Out of the Shadows". The New York Times. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
2. "BOOTS TO RELEASE DEBUT ALBUM AQUARIA ON NOVEMBER 13th, 2015 VIA COLUMBIA RECORDS". Columbia Records. August 20, 2015. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
3. "Critic Reviews for Aquaria". Metacritic. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
4. Yeung, Neil Z. (November 13, 2015). "Aquaria - Boots". AllMusic. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
5. http://www.wsj.com/articles/aquaria-by-boots-review-1447279212
6. Gibsone, Harriet (November 12, 2015). "Boots: AQUΛRIA review – former Beyoncé producer goes doomy rap-rock". The Guardian. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
7. Pareles, Jon (November 11, 2015). "Aquaria a Dark Debut Album by Boots". The New York Times. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
8. Bassett, Jordan (November 11, 2015). "NME Reviews - Boots – 'Aquaria'". NME. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
9. Rivers, Joe (October 28, 2015). "BOOTS - AQUΛRIA". Clash. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
10. Tolentino, Jia (November 3, 2015). "Boots: AQUARIA | Album Reviews". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
11. Dolan, Jon (December 2, 2015). "Boots Aquaria Album Review". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
12. "Aquaria - Boots | Credits". AllMusic.
13. "Boots – Chart history". Billboard Top Heatseekers Albums for Boots. Retrieved March 17, 2016.