A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation

The Wombats Proudly Present A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation, usually shortened to A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation, is the debut major studio album by English rock band the Wombats. It was released by 14th Floor Records on 5 November 2007.^[2] Most of the songs first appeared on the band's 2006 Japan-only album Girls, Boys and Marsupials. A DVD to accompany the album includes footage of the band at the South by Southwest festival, along with music videos from their recent singles.

A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation
Studio album by The Wombats
Released	5 November 2007
Recorded	Rockfield Studios, Monmouth, Wales Electric Lady Studios, New York City, United States Brick Lane, London, England RAK Studios, London, England
Genre	Indie rock, post-punk, new wave
Length	44:24
Label	14th Floor
Producer	Stephen Harris, The Wombats, Jimmy Robertson
The Wombats chronology
Girls, Boys and Marsupials (2006) A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation (2007) This Modern Glitch (2011)
Singles from A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation
"Moving to New York" Released: 26 October 2006 "Backfire at the Disco" Released: 9 April 2007 "Kill the Director" Released: 25 June 2007 "Let's Dance to Joy Division" Released: 8 October 2007

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	65/100[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Digital Spy	[3]
The Guardian	[4]
LAUNCHcast	(7/10)[5]
NME	(7/10)[6]
Pitchfork Media	(5.9/10)[7]
Spin	[8]
stv.tv	[9]
This Is Fake DIY	[10]
Yahoo! Music UK	[11]

The album was recorded at Rockfield Studios and reached No. 11 in the UK Albums Chart. It contains a pregap before the first track, which contains the band attempting to make wine glasses "ring" and extolling the virtues of the French wine Beaujolais, ending with them performing a mock advert for Beaujolais. The album had sold 335,361 copies in the UK as of April 2015.^[12]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Matthew Murphy, except where noted; all music is composed by The Wombats, except where noted.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Tales of Girls, Boys & Marsupials" (lyrics by The Wombats)	1:10
2.	"Kill the Director"	2:42
3.	"Moving to New York"	3:31
4.	"Lost in the Post"	3:06
5.	"Party in a Forest (Where's Laura?)"	3:27
6.	"School Uniforms"	3:14
7.	"Here Comes the Anxiety"	2:31
8.	"Let's Dance to Joy Division"	3:11
9.	"Backfire at the Disco"	3:13
10.	"Little Miss Pipedream"	4:12
11.	"Dr. Suzanne Mattox PhD" (includes elements from the chorus of "Help Me, Rhonda", by the Beach Boys)	3:33
12.	"Patricia the Stripper"	4:01
13.	"My First Wedding" (track ends at 4:36. hidden track; Tales of Girls, Boys and Marsupials piano instrumentation version)	6:38

iTunes bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
14.	"Derail and Crash"	3:29
15.	"Metro Song"	3:51

Bonus DVD

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Let's Dance to Joy Division" (video)
2.	"Kill the Director" (video)
3.	"Backfire at the Disco" (video)
4.	"Moving to New York" (video)
5.	"The Wombats in Austin"
6.	"Found Footage"

Personnel

• Matthew Murphy – vocals, guitar, synthesizers, piano
• Dan Haggis – backing vocals, drums, synthesizers, piano, stylophone, harmonica, melodica
• Tord Øverland-Knudsen – backing vocals, bass, synthesizers, cello
• Llangattock Primary School – kids choir on "Let's Dance to Joy Division"
• Ian McNabb - banjo

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts Chart (2007) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[13] 35 Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[13] 57 UK Albums Chart (OCC)[13] 11 US Heatseeker Albums[14] 20 Chart (2023) Peak position Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[15] 39

Year-end charts Chart (2008) Position UK Albums (OCC)[16] 74 Certifications Region Certification Certified units/sales Australia (ARIA)[17] Gold 35,000^ United Kingdom (BPI)[18] Platinum 300,000^ ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.