Rules (The Whitest Boy Alive album)

This article is about the Whitest Boy Alive album. For other albums, see Rule § Albums.

Rules is the second and final album by indie pop band The Whitest Boy Alive. It was recorded in Punta Burros Nayarit, Mexico, where the band was staying to rest after a long tour.^[1] In early 2009, Australian radio station Triple J named Rules their feature album of the week. The track "1517" was featured in FIFA 10, the video game by EA Sports. This would be the last material the members of the band would record together until the 2020 release of the non-album single "Serious".^[2]

Rules
Studio album by The Whitest Boy Alive
Released	March 30, 2009
Genre	Indie pop, dream pop
Length	44:08
Label	Bubbles
Producer	The Whitest Boy Alive
The Whitest Boy Alive chronology
Dreams (2006) Rules (2009)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
BBC	Favourable link
Clash	Very favourable link
Contactmusic.com	Favourable link
Gigwise.com	link
The Guardian	link
musicOMH	link
NME	link
Pitchforkmedia	6.3/10 link
Popmatters	link

Track listing

CD sequencing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Keep a Secret"	4:08
2.	"Intentions"	3:39
3.	"Courage"	4:23
4.	"Timebomb"	3:44
5.	"Rollercoaster Ride"	2:40
6.	"High on the Heels"	3:20
7.	"1517"	3:41
8.	"Gravity"	3:49
9.	"Promise Less or Do More"	4:18
10.	"Dead End"	3:23
11.	"Island"	7:04

Vinyl sequencing

The vinyl release of Rules sports a different track order to the CD release:

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Courage"	4:23
2.	"Gravity"	3:49
3.	"Promise Less or Do More"	4:18
4.	"Island"	7:04
5.	"Rollercoaster Ride"	2:40
6.	"Dead End"	3:23
7.	"Keep a Secret"	4:08
8.	"High on the Heels"	3:20
9.	"Intentions"	3:39
10.	"Timebomb"	3:44
11.	"1517"	3:41

Personnel

• Erlend Øye – guitar, vocals
• Daniel Nentwig – Fender Rhodes piano, Crumar synthesizer
• Marcin Öz – bass; response vocal on "Gravity"
• Sebastian Maschat – drums
• D. Todorova – response vocal on "Gravity"
• S. Rubi – response vocal on "Gravity"

Charts

Chart performance for Rules

Chart (2009)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[3]	75
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[4]	45
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[5]	39
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[6]	69
French Albums (SNEP)[7]	171
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[8]	31
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[9]	18
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[10]	50