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Infinite Things

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Infinite Things
Studio album by
Released13 November 2020 (2020-11-13)
Recorded2018–2020
Length47:08
LabelSony Music UK
Producer
Paloma Faith chronology
The Architect
(2017)
Infinite Things
(2020)
The Glorification of Sadness
(2024)
Singles from Infinite Things
  1. "Better Than This"
    Released: 5 September 2020
  2. "Gold"
    Released: 29 October 2020
  3. "Monster"
    Released: 7 May 2021

Infinite Things is the fifth studio album by British singer Paloma Faith, released through Sony Music on 13 November 2020.[1]

Background

[edit]

Faith's fourth album The Architect became her first album to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart. Almost a year later, she released a special edition of the album, named the Zeitgeist Edition, containing other songs that were made during the making of the songs from the standard album. Aside from her album, she also became a figure for automobile manufacturing company Škoda, recording two covers "Make Your Own Kind of Music" and "I've Gotta Be Me" for two of their adverts that ran in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

At the end of 2019, she said she would like to release a new album next year.

In early 2020, she released the song "Mistakes" in collaboration with tropical house record producer Jonas Blue, which sparked the first rumours on possibly releasing an album. She talked about the song, saying "I feel so excited about 'Mistakes'. I am a huge fan of MNEK who co-wrote the song and also of the dance power of Jonas. I can't help but move to this tune. It's a banger!"[2]

Just before announcing the album in September 2020, she revealed on her social media that she was pregnant with her second child with her current partner Leyman Lahcine, with whom she already had a three-year-old daughter.[3]

Paloma wrote most of the songs for 'Infinite Things' before the Covid-19 pandemic swept the world. Then we went into lockdown, and she ripped them all up and started afresh. She spent her downtime creating, learning to engineer her own music and just thinking about the world. The enforced downtime was creatively fruitful and taught her that she had been on a sort of conveyor belt of music and promo. The lockdown gave her the space to take stock of her frenetic career, and decide what is meaningful to her. She is emerging from lockdown with a new sense of her priorities which has seen her reconnect with her roots steeped in creativity.

—a Paloma Faith representative in a press release.

She announced the album under the title Infinite Things on 25 September 2020 and revealed that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she learned how to engineer the entirety of the record before she penned it to be released and nearly went as far as scrapping it and starting all over again from scratch. She also revealed that, as well as exploring relationships and love, the record is also reflective in topics of sickness and loss.

Faith has also worked with a host of songwriters on the album, including Faouzia, MNEK and Josef Salvat. Sigrid also wrote a song on the album and is the only one that wasn't written by Faith herself, as stated on iTunes.

Singles

[edit]

The album's lead single, "Better Than This" was released on 5 September 2020, along with an accompanying music video, directed by David Wilson, published onto YouTube a few days after.[4] Faith described the song as one of "enduring love" in a time of violence.[5]

"Gold" was made the album's second single on 29 October 2020. The song is accompanied by a video filmed in Hackney, which sees Paloma using an abandoned building site as the stage for a dramatic performance alongside a choir and a host of dancers. Faith said about the song, "'Gold' is the only song on the album which wasn't recorded in my basement. It was recorded at Steve Mac's studio, who penned the song with the wonderful Sigrid. As a result it embodies freedom and joy and a celebration of life, perfect escapism for a time when we need to remember we are free spirits. 'Gold' is a song about how the spirit conquers everything and whatever you are going through your true virtues are inside you."[6][7][8]

"Monster" was made the album’s third single on 7 May 2021. The official video was released on the same day.

Promotional singles

[edit]

On 16 October 2020, Faith released "Falling Down" as the first promotional single from the album. "Last Night on Earth" followed on 23 October.

Track listing

[edit]
Standard version[9]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Supernatural"
  • Jean-Marie
  • Faith[v]
  • Jamie McEvoy[v]
3:33
2."Monster"Starsmith3:11
3."Gold"Steve Mac3:58
4."Falling Down"
3:35
5."Infinite Things"
4:47
6."If This Is Goodbye"4:44
7."Better Than This"
  • Hartman
  • Jordan Riley
3:27
8."Me Time"
3:17
9."If Loving You Was Easy"
  • Harcourt
  • TommyD[c]
3:44
10."Beautiful & Damned"
2:37
11."I'd Die for You"
4:01
12."Living with a Stranger"
3:26
13."Last Night on Earth"
2:48
Total length:47:08
Deluxe version bonus track[10]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
14."Christmas Prayer" (with Gregory Porter)
  • Lattimer
  • Rupert Christie
3:23
Total length:50:31

Notes

[edit]
  • ^[v] signifies a vocal producer
  • ^[a] signifies an additional producer
  • ^[c] signifies a miscellaneous or co-producer

Credits and personnel

[edit]

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Infinite Things.[11]

Performers and musicians

  • Paloma Faith – vocals
  • Nosa Apollo – programming (10)
  • Kevin Banks – electric guitar (11)
  • Zara Benyounes – violin (5, 8-9, 11), viola (5, 8-9, 11)
  • Ryan Coughlin – bass guitar (11), acoustic guitar (11), electric guitar (11)
  • Peter Daley – keys (5), piano (13)
  • Rosie Danvers – cello (5, 8-9, 11)
  • Sam Dixon – bass (8)
  • Louis Dowdeswell – trumpet (8)
  • Jack Duxbury – synths (4), guitar (4), organ (4), bass (4)
  • Grades – drums (10), bass (10), keyboards (10), synthesizer (10), programming (10)
  • Ed Harcourt – background vocals (9), drums (9), organ (9), percussion (9), piano (9), synthesizers (9)
  • Jamie Hartman – piano (7)
  • Jamie N Commons – keys (4), programming (4), background vocals (4)
  • Tre Jean-Marie – drums (1, 8, 10), bass (1, 10), keyboards (1, 10), synthesizer (1, 8, 10), programming (1, 8, 10), piano (8), guitar (8), rhodes (8)
  • Gita Langley – violin (6)
  • Chris Laws – drums (3)
  • Nathaniel "Detonate" Ledwidge – keyboard programming (13), pianos (13), bass (13), guitars (13), drums (13)
  • Martin Lovatt – trumpet (8)
  • Steve Mac – keyboards (3)
  • Janelle Martin – background vocals (1, 3, 9, 13)
  • Howard McGill – saxophones (8)
  • Naomi Miller – background vocals (1, 3, 9, 13)
  • Baby N'Sola – background vocals (1, 9, 13)
  • Nayla "Sillkey" Nyassa – piano (8), organ (8)
  • John Parricelli – guitars (3)
  • Kerenza Peacock – violin (5, 8-9, 11), viola (5, 8-9, 11)
  • Richard Pryce – double bass (8-9, 11)
  • Jordan Riley – drums (7), keyboards (7), bass (7), programming (7)
  • Davide Rossi – all strings (7)
  • Josef Salvat – background vocals (9)
  • Starsmith – guitars (2), synthesizers (2), keyboards (2), drum programming (2)
  • Dave Stewart – trombone (8)
  • Aisha Stuart – background vocals (1, 3, 10)
  • TommyD – keyboard (5, 8-9, 11)
  • Dylan Wiggins – guitar (1, 10)
  • Martin Williams – saxophones (8)
  • Patrick Wimberly – synths (5, 11), drum programming (5, 11), drums (11), piano (11), keys (11)
  • Wired Strings – strings (5, 8-9, 11)
  • Andy Wood – trombone (8)

Production

  • Paloma Faith – vocal production (1, 4, 6-8, 10-13), engineering (1, 4, 6-8, 10-13)
  • Charlie Handsome – production (12)
  • Khaya Cohen – additional production (11)
  • Mark Crew – production (4), recording (4), mixing (4)
  • James Cunningham – assistant mix engineering (1, 5-6, 9-13)
  • Rosie Danvers – string arranging (5, 8, 11), brass arranging (8), arranging (9)
  • Nat Dunn – vocal production (12), engineering (12)
  • Duncan Fuller – assistant engineering (9)
  • Chris Gehringer – mastering
  • Serban Ghenea – mixing (3, 7)
  • Grades – production (10)
  • John Hanes – mix engineering (3, 7)
  • Ed Harcourt – production (6, 9), engineering (6), recording (6)
  • Jamie Hartman – production (7)
  • Tre Jean-Marie – production (1, 8, 10), additional production (5)
  • Chris Laws – engineering (3)
  • Nathaniel "Detonate" Ledwidge – production (13), engineering (13)
  • Steve Mac – production (3)
  • Jamie McEvoy – vocal production (1, 4, 6-8, 10-13), engineering (1, 4-13)
  • Dann Pursey – engineering (3)
  • James F. Reynolds – mixing (1, 5-6, 9-13)
  • Jordan Riley – production (7)
  • Miles B.A. Robinson – engineering (5)
  • Jamie Snell – mixing (2, 8)
  • Starsmith – production (2)
  • Styalz – production (12)
  • TommyD – string session production (5, 8, 11)
  • Ewan Vickery – mixing assistant (2, 8)
  • Martin Williams – brass arranging (8)
  • Patrick Wimberly – production (5, 11), engineering (11)
  • Lewis Wright – engineering (5, 8-9, 11)

Design and art direction

  • Theo Adams – creative direction
  • Phoebe Arnold – styling
  • Louie Banks – cover photography
  • Chieska Fortune-Smith – photography
  • Danny Hyland – set design
  • Eamonn Hughes – hairstyling
  • Imarni – nails
  • Chris Murdoch – creative production
  • Nick Royal – styling
  • Masumi Saito – movement direction
  • Daniel Sällström – makeup
  • Leandro Pitz Schroeder – art direction

Charts

[edit]
Chart performance for Infinite Things
Chart (2020) Peak
position
Scottish Albums (OCC)[12] 5
UK Albums (OCC)[13] 4
UK Album Downloads (OCC)[14] 4

Certifications

[edit]
Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[15] Silver 60,000

Sales streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

[edit]
Release formats for Infinite Things
Region Date Format(s) Edition Label Ref.
Various 13 November 2020 Standard Sony Music UK [9][16]
27 November 2020
  • Digital download
  • streaming
Deluxe [10]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Paloma Faith announces fifth album Infinite Things". MSN. 25 September 2020. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  2. ^ "Jonas Blue and Paloma Faith team up for summery dance track "Mistakes"". CelebMix. 28 February 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  3. ^ Kent, Sara-Aisha (24 September 2020). "Paloma Faith pregnant with second child after fertility struggles". Daily Mirror.
  4. ^ "Video". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  5. ^ "Paloma Faith's new single is about "warts and all" love: Listen". www.officialcharts.com.
  6. ^ "Paloma Faith releases new single and video, 'Gold'". Sony Music UK. 29 October 2020.
  7. ^ "Paloma Faith's new single 'Gold' was co-written by Sigrid". www.msn.com.
  8. ^ "'Gold' is the latest release from Paloma Faith". 29 October 2020.
  9. ^ a b "Infinite Things by Paloma Faith on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  10. ^ a b "Infinite Things (Deluxe Version) by Paloma Faith on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  11. ^ Infinite Things (Media notes). Paloma Faith. Sony Music UK. 2020.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  12. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  13. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  14. ^ "Official Album Downloads Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  15. ^ "British album certifications – Paloma Faith – Infinite Things". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  16. ^ "Paloma Faith Store". Archived from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2020.