Breathe (Midnight Oil album)

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Breathe is the ninth studio album by Australian rock band, Midnight Oil, which was released on 15 October 1996 under the Columbia Records label. It peaked at No. 3 on the ARIA Albums Chart and appeared in the top 40 on the New Zealand and Swiss Albums Charts. The album was produced by Malcolm Burn and according to Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, it had a loose, raw style with almost a low-key sound.

Background

Australian rock band, Midnight Oil, released their ninth studio album, Breathe, on 15 October 1996, which appeared three-and-a-half years after their eighth album, Earth and Sun and Moon.<ref name="McFarlane">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Holmgren">Template:Cite web</ref> The line-up for the album was Peter Garrett on lead vocals, Bones Hillman on bass guitar and vocals, Rob Hirst on drums and vocals, Jim Moginie on guitars, keyboards, and vocals, and Martin Rotsey on guitars.<ref name="McFarlane"/><ref name="Holmgren"/> The album was produced by Malcolm Burn and released for Sprint Music by Columbia Records.<ref name="McFarlane"/><ref name="Holmgren"/>

Moginie later said, "Breathe was supposed to be an atmospheric, spiritual album - and I think we succeeded in doing that. I really enjoyed making that album - and I learnt an incredible amount in doing it." Hirst added, "we set out to make an album that was literally the five of us playing, that would be timeless in the sense that there's no little production gimmicks or manufactured sounds that would tag it to a particular era. You'd just hear the music."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Reception

Template:Album reviews Breathe peaked at No. 3 on the ARIA Albums Chart and appeared in the top 40 on the New Zealand and Swiss Albums Charts. In Australia it was certified gold for shipment of 35,000 copies by ARIA. AllMusic's reviewer, Stephen Thomas Erlewine, described it as having "a more direct sound while keeping the anthemic melodicism ... less ambitious than its predecessor, yet also more forceful".<ref name="Erlewine">Template:Cite web</ref> According to Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, it had a loose, raw style with almost a low-key sound.<ref name="McFarlane"/> Rolling StoneTemplate:'s Tom Moon compared it to earlier albums which "were filled with wide-screen screeds, the lectures on Breathe are offset by evocative mood pieces ... In fusing the hurtling momentum of punk with the righteousness of old-timey hymns, the Oils have arrived at a potent music that uplifts as it agitates".<ref name="Moon">Template:Cite magazine</ref>