The Constant (I Blame Coco album)

The Constant is the debut studio album by English band I Blame Coco, released on 1 October 2010 by Island Records. The album spawned four singles: "Caesar" (which features Swedish singer Robyn), "Selfmachine", "Quicker" and "In Spirit Golden"; the latter was released digitally on 31 October 2010, one week before the album's UK release date.[1]

The Constant
Studio album by
I Blame Coco
Released1 October 2010 (2010-10-01)
Recorded2008–2010
Genre
Length45:30
LabelIsland
Producer
I Blame Coco chronology
The Constant
(2010)		 Information
(2016)
Singles from The Constant
  1. "Caesar"
    Released: 31 January 2010
  2. "Selfmachine"
    Released: 11 July 2010
  3. "Quicker"
    Released: 13 September 2010
  4. "In Spirit Golden"
    Released: 31 October 2010

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic63/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Clash4/10[4]
The Daily Telegraph[5]
Drowned in Sound5/10[6]
The Guardian[7]
musicOMH[8]
NME5/10[9]
PopMatters7/10[10]
Virgin Media[11]
The Wharf4/5[12]

The Constant 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 63, based on 11 reviews.[2] Joe Vogel of PopMatters praised the album as "a worthy and promising debut", dubbing it "a young album that avoids certain risks [...], but there is a vitality and ambition to it that is rare and refreshing for pop music."[10] The Daily Telegraph's Lucy Jones referred to the album as "a well-crafted and impressive debut" and wrote, "Although the album doesn't quite ignite, Sumner's innate talent shines through."[5] Heather Phares of AllMusic concluded that the album "has enough strong moments to make it a promising debut from a group with plenty of confidence, personality and potential."[3] Ian Gittins of Virgin Media found that Sumner "has spectacularly inherited her father's idiosyncratic musicality, with her husky, masculine tones and mannered whoops and yowls illustrating that she has paid close attention to her dad's vocal repertoire."[11]

Louisa Emery of The Wharf expressed that "Coco has created an album that shows she is more than a over privileged kid playing popstar, even if it will do little to shake off her Sumner stigma."[12] Ben Weisz of musicOMH noted that "The Constant isn't exceptional, but it does demonstrate a sophistication which sets her apart from the twee pop of some of her rivals."[8] The Guardian's Caroline Sullivan viewed the album as "essentially a mildly promising debut by an artist who can write a tune but not yet with any great distinction."[7] At NME, Alex Denney described "Caesar" as a "good-ass pop tune", but stated that "for the most part The Constant boils down to a thin chart gruel, too lumpenly pitched between the Carling Academies and the cattle-grid nightclubs to leave a mark."[9] Neil Condron of Clash characterised the album as "[p]redictably pristine, ultimately inessential".[4] The Observer's Killian Fox argued that "the album ends up feeling oddly flat. We are left with a sense of excitement unfulfilled."[13]

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Selfmachine"
Åhlund3:49
2."In Spirit Golden"
  • Kipner
  • Frampton
3:28
3."Quicker"Sumner
  • Dan Foat
  • Nathan Boddy
3:02
4."Turn Your Back on Love"
Dixon3:23
5."Please Rewind"
  • Sumner
  • Åhlund
Åhlund3:22
6."Summer Rain"
McCracken3:52
7."Playwrite Fate"
  • Sumner
  • Byrne
  • Byrne
  • Dixon
3:10
8."The Constant"
  • Sumner
  • Shuckburgh
  • Foat
  • Boddy
3:32
9."Party Bag"
  • Sumner
  • Kipner
  • Frampton
  • Shuckburgh
  • Kipner
  • Frampton
3:35
10."No Smile"Sumner
3:16
11."Caesar" (featuring Robyn)
  • Sumner
  • Åhlund
Åhlund3:38
12."Only Love Can Break Your Heart"Neil Young
  • Foat
  • Boddy
3:05
13."It's About to Get Worse"
  • Sumner
  • Åhlund
Åhlund4:18
Austrian, French, German, Italian and Swiss iTunes Store bonus tracks[14][15][16][17][18]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
14."Atlantis Found"
  • Sumner
  • Kipner
  • Frampton
  • Shuckburgh
  • Kipner
  • Frampton
3:51
15."Caesar" (music video)  3:45
16."Selfmachine" (music video)  3:39
17."Quicker" (music video)  3:19
International edition bonus track[19][20][21]
Dutch, Belgian, Swedish and UK iTunes Store bonus track[22][23][24][25]
No.TitleLength
14."Quicker" (Rack n Ruin Rework)3:01
UK iTunes Store deluxe edition bonus tracks[26]
No.TitleLength
14."Quicker" (Rack n Ruin Rework)3:01
15."Summer Rain" (acoustic)4:21
16."Selfmachine" (acoustic)3:16
17."The Chain" (acoustic)3:43
18."Caesar" (music video)3:45
19."Selfmachine" (music video)3:39
20."Quicker" (Rack n Ruin Remix; music video)4:00
21."In Spirit Golden" (music video)3:28
HMV Digital bonus tracks[27]
No.TitleLength
14."Quicker" (Rack n Ruin Rework)3:01
15."Kiddo" (HMV exclusive track)3:58

Charts
Chart (2010–2011) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[28] 58
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[29] 82
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[30] 88
French Albums (SNEP)[31] 41
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[32] 31
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[33] 36
Scottish Albums (OCC)[34] 97
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[35] 72
UK Albums (OCC)[36] 86

Release history
Region Date Label Ref.
Netherlands 1 October 2010 Universal [37]
Sweden [19]
Switzerland 8 October 2010 [38]
France 11 October 2010 [20]
Poland 29 October 2010 [39]
Germany 2 November 2010 [21]
United Kingdom 8 November 2010 Island [40]
Italy 22 February 2011 Universal [41]

References
  1. "In Spirit Golden – EP by I Blame Coco". iTunes Store. United Kingdom. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
  2. "The Constant by I Blame Coco Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  3. Phares, Heather. "The Constant – I Blame Coco". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  4. Condron, Neil (8 November 2010). "I Blame Coco – The Constant". Clash. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  5. Jones, Lucy (5 November 2010). "I Blame Coco, CD review". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 November 2010. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  6. Ashman, Neil (3 November 2010). "I Blame Coco – The Constant". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  7. Sullivan, Caroline (4 November 2010). "I Blame Coco: The Constant – review". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  8. Weisz, Ben. "I Blame Coco – The Constant". musicOMH. Archived from the original on 2 November 2010. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  9. Denney, Alex (5 November 2010). "Album Review: I Blame Coco – The Constant (Island)". NME. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  10. Vogel, Joe (8 June 2011). "I Blame Coco: The Constant". PopMatters. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
  11. Gittins, Ian. "I Blame Coco: The Constant". Virgin Media. Archived from the original on 30 September 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  12. Emery, Louisa (9 November 2010). "CD Review: The Constant, I Blame Coco". The Wharf. Archived from the original on 3 October 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  13. Fox, Killian (7 November 2010). "I Blame Coco: The Constant – review". The Observer. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  14. "The Constant by I Blame Coco". iTunes Store. Austria. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  15. "The Constant by I Blame Coco". iTunes Store. France. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  16. "The Constant by I Blame Coco". iTunes Store. Germany. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
  17. "The Constant by I Blame Coco". iTunes Store. Italy. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  18. "The Constant by I Blame Coco". iTunes Store. Switzerland. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  19. "I Blame Coco – The Constant" (in Swedish). Universal Music Sweden. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  20. "The constant – I Blame Coco" (in French). Fnac. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  21. "I Blame Coco | The Constant" (in German). Universal Music Germany. Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  22. "The Constant by I Blame Coco". iTunes Store. Belgium. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  23. "The Constant by I Blame Coco". iTunes Store. Netherlands. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  24. "The Constant by I Blame Coco". iTunes Store. Sweden. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  25. "The Constant by I Blame Coco". iTunes Store. United Kingdom. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
  26. "The Constant (Deluxe Version) by I Blame Coco". iTunes Store. United Kingdom. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
  27. "The Constant (HMV Exclusive Version) by I Blame Coco". HMV Digital. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  28. "Austriancharts.at – I Blame Coco – The Constant" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  29. "Ultratop.be – I Blame Coco – The Constant" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  30. "Ultratop.be – I Blame Coco – The Constant" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  31. "Lescharts.com – I Blame Coco – The Constant". Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  32. "Offiziellecharts.de – I Blame Coco – The Constant" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  33. "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLiS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 22 November 2010.
  34. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  35. "Swisscharts.com – I Blame Coco – The Constant". Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  36. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  37. "Constant | I Blame Coco" (in Dutch). Free Record Shop. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  38. "I Blame Coco – The Constant". soundmedia.ch (in German). Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  39. "The Constant (polska cena!) – I Blame Coco" (in Polish). Universal Music Poland. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  40. "I Blame Coco: Constant". HMV. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  41. "I Blame Coco – The Constant". IBS.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
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