Silence Is Easy

For the song, see Silence Is Easy (song).

Silence Is Easy is the second studio album by English indie rock group Starsailor, released in September 2003 on EMI Records. The album cover is loosely based on Echo & the Bunnymen's Heaven Up Here. The song "Some of Us" was featured in an episode of Bones titled "A Boy in a Bush"^[11] and in the closing credits of the Belgian film The Memory of a Killer (a.k.a. The Alzheimer Case). The album contains some of the last productions by Phil Spector before his murder conviction and imprisonment in 2009, and before his death in 2021 ("Silence Is Easy" and "White Dove"). The album sold 54,296 copies in its opening week of release, charting at No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart. It was certified gold in the UK in 2003.^[12]

Silence Is Easy
Studio album by Starsailor
Released	15 September 2003
Genre	Post-Britpop, baroque pop
Length	39:40
Label	EMI
Producer	Danton Supple John Leckie Phil Spector
Starsailor chronology
Love Is Here (2001) Silence Is Easy (2003) On the Outside (2005)
Singles from Silence Is Easy
"Silence Is Easy" Released: 1 September 2003 "Born Again" Released: 17 November 2003 "Four to the Floor" Released: 1 March 2004

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	53/100[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Drowned in Sound	3/10[3]
E! Online	A−[4]
The Guardian	[5]
Pitchfork	4.9/10[6]
Robert Christgau	[7]
Rolling Stone	[8]
Slant Magazine	[9]
Uncut	[10]

Critical reception

Silence Is Easy was met with "mixed or average" reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 53 based on 16 reviews.^[1]

In a review for AllMusic, critic reviewer Matt Collar wrote: "Mixing alternative rock aesthetics with a melodic pop sensibility, Silence Is Easy finds the band in pretty much the same place as before with slightly better songwriting, a more mature vocal performance by Walsh, and tastefully grandiose production. The 11 tracks here, including the two Spector-produced numbers, are heartfelt, melodic rockers with some string backgrounds that fit well into the overall aesthetic of cinematic pop romanticism."^[2] At Drowned in Sound, Gareth Dobson gave an unfavourable three out of ten score to the release, calling it a "perfected brand of middle-class miserablism".^[3] Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian called the album "attractive listening, and it's hard not to be moved by its tenderness."^[5]

Writing for Pitchfork, John O'Connor wrote: "Starsailor revels in all of these romantic pretensions on Silence Is Easy, their melodramatic, overproduced, but not altogether unpleasant sophomore release. Defiantly sappy, Silence Is Easy survives mostly on Walsh's oddly graceful singing. Unfortunately, the music on the whole is prosaic, even boring at times."^[6]

Playlouder ranked it at number eight on their list of the 20 worst albums of the year.^[13]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Music Was Saved"	3:00
2.	"Fidelity"	2:22
3.	"Some of Us"	3:37
4.	"Silence Is Easy"	3:40
5.	"Telling Them"	4:51
6.	"Shark Food"	3:35
7.	"Bring My Love"	2:20
8.	"White Dove"	3:52
9.	"Four to the Floor"	3:50
10.	"Born Again"	6:03
11.	"Restless Heart"	2:01

North American bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
12.	"Could You Be Mine?"	3:33
13.	"At the End of a Show"	4:12

Limited edition bonus CD

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Four to the Floor" (Thin White Duke Remix)	8:11
2.	"Four to the Floor" (Soulsavers Mix)	5:12
3.	"Poor Misguided Fool" (Soulsavers Remix)	4:39
4.	"Good Souls" (Two Lone Swordsmen Remix)	5:50
5.	"Good Souls" (Echoboy Remix)	5:17
6.	"Good Souls" (Soulsavers Remix)	5:37

Personnel

Ben Byrne – drums James 'Stel' Stelfox – bass guitar James Walsh – vocals, guitar Barry Westhead – keyboards Percussion: Luis Jardim Double bass: Arnulf Lindner Violins: Ruth Gottilieb, Gillon Cameron, Howard Gott, Wendy De St Paer, louise Peacock, Brian Wright, Claire Raybould, Katherine Watmough, Tim Myall, Anna Giddey, Catherine Browning, Alison Blunt, Calina De La Mare, Anna Morris, Gini Ball and Sally Herbert Violas: Rob Spriggs, Vince Greene, Sophie Sirota, Emily Frith, Lucy Theo and Fiona Friffith Cellos: Sarah Willson, Helen Thomas, Andy Nice, Ian Burdge and Emily Isaac

Production Producer: Danton Supple, Starsailor, John Leckie, Mark Aubrey, Phil Spector Engineer: Danton Supple, Mark Aubrey, John Leckie and Chris Brown Additional engineer: Britt Myers Programmer John Dunne Mixer: Michael H. Brauer, The Soulsavers Assistance: Nathaniel Chan Mastering: Greg Calbi, Miles Showell String arrangements: Leo Abrahams Art direction: Yacht Associates Photograph: Rick Guest

Charts

Weekly charts Weekly chart performance for Silence Is Easy Chart (2003) Peak position Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[14] 17 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[15] 8 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[16] 25 Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[17] 17 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[18] 31 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[19] 40 French Albums (SNEP)[20] 47 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[21] 20 Irish Albums (IRMA)[22] 25 Italian Albums (FIMI)[23] 13 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[24] 35 Scottish Albums (OCC)[25] 2 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[26] 24 UK Albums (OCC)[27] 2

Year-end charts Year-end chart performance for Silence Is Easy Chart (2003) Position UK Albums (OCC)[28] 107

Certifications

Certifications for Silence Is Easy

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[12]	Gold	100,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.