If You Wait is the debut studio album by English indie pop band London Grammar, released on 6 September 2013 by Metal & Dust Recordings and Ministry of Sound. Seven singles were released from the album: "Metal & Dust", "Wasting My Young Years", "Strong", "Nightcall", "Hey Now", "Sights" and "If You Wait". The album debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart with first-week sales of 33,130 copies.

Background After signing with Ministry of Sound and Big Life Management, the band began the first sessions of the album in early 2012 with Cam Blackwood. Later that year he was replaced by Tim Bran and Roy Kerr. Hannah Reid commented on the collaboration, saying, "Tim is amazing at recording, of finding the best way of recording a guitar or my vocal. Roy had the strongest relationship with Dot and they worked on production together." Russell Dean Stone, London Grammar', BEAT Magazine, 16 October 2013

The album's lyrics are mainly based upon vocalist Hannah Reid's personal life, in particular her troubled teenage years, prompting The Guardian to suggest that this was "the first quarter-life-crisis album."

Critical reception

If You Wait received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 75, based on 19 reviews.

Andy Gill of The Independent summarised the album's production and instrumentation as "all beautifully sketched to evoke the crepuscular intimacies of the songs."

A large quantity of praise went to the vocal ability of Reid, whose husky contralto vocals have been described as "defining and soulful" by Clash magazine and "emotive" and "folky" by Drowned in Sound. Her voice has been compared to artists like Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine, Annie Lennox, and Julee Cruise. Benji Taylor of Pretty Much Amazing wrote a favourable review of the album, calling it "an enthralling, stunning, deeply emotive album that perfectly marries understated electronica to sublime vocals and melodies." Vocalist Hannah Reid's voice was particularly praised: "underscored by an enduring brittle beauty and an underlying otherworldliness, as if she honed her craft singing amidst the gardens of Lothlorien, or some far-flung corner of Westeros."

Commercial performance If You Wait entered the UK Albums Chart at number two, selling 33,130 copies in its first week. As of June 2017, it had sold 642,301 copies in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the album debuted at number 91 on the Billboard 200 with 4,000 copies sold.

Track listing All tracks produced by Tim Bran, Roy Kerr and London Grammar, except where noted.

Notes signifies a co-producer

Personnel Credits adapted from the liner notes of If You Wait.

London Grammar Hannah Reid Daniel Rothman Dot Major

Additional musicians

Tim Bran – additional programming ; additional keyboards Roy Kerr – additional programming Dot Major – additional programming Wil Malone – string arrangements, string conducting Tony Stanton – strings preparation City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra – strings

Technical

Tim Bran – production Roy Kerr – production London Grammar – production Manon Grandjean – engineering Ben Siegal – engineering ; vocal recording, piano recording Jan Holzner – string recording James Fitzpatrick – orchestra contractor Kevin "KD" Davis – mixing Tom Coyne – mastering

Artwork Mat Maitland – art direction Markus Karlsson – art direction Lee Kirby – photography

Charts

Weekly charts + Weekly chart performance for If You Wait Chart (2013–2015) Peakposition Greek Albums (IFPI) 25 Irish Independent Albums (IRMA) 1

Year-end charts + 2013 year-end chart performance for If You Wait Chart (2013) Position Australian Albums (ARIA) 87 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 182 French Albums (SNEP) 95 UK Albums (OCC) 33

+ 2014 year-end chart performance for If You Wait Chart (2014) Position Australian Albums (ARIA) 23 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 9 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 9 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) 55 French Albums (SNEP) 21 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) 27 UK Albums (OCC) 17

+ 2015 year-end chart performance for If You Wait Chart (2015) Position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 27 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 48

+ 2019 year-end chart performance for If You Wait Chart (2019) Position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 189

+ 2021 year-end chart performance for If You Wait Chart (2021) Position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 189

+ 2025 year-end chart performance for If You Wait Chart (2025) Position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 187

Decade-end charts Chart (2010–2019) Position UK Albums (OCC) 91

Certifications

Release history + Release dates and formats for If You Wait Region Date Format Edition Label Australia 6 September 2013 Dew Process LP Standard France 9 September 2013 CD Because United Kingdom LP Standard United States 10 September 2013 Digital download Columbia Germany 11 October 2013 Deluxe 15 November 2013 CD Island United States 25 March 2014 US standard Columbia Digital download US deluxe 1 April 2014 LP US standard France 28 April 2014 LP + CD Because Japan 18 June 2014 Japan standard Universal France 24 November 2014 CD Collector's Because

Notes

References