The Golden Echo

The Golden Echo is the second studio album by New Zealand recording artist Kimbra, released by Warner Bros. Records in the United States on 19 August 2014.

The Golden Echo
Studio album by Kimbra
Released	19 August 2014 (2014-08-19)
Genre	Art pop[1]
Length	60:03
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Keefus Ciancia, Rich Costey (exec.), Taylor Graves, John Hill, Kimbra Johnson, Major Dudes, Mystery Skulls, M-Phazes, Al Shux, Surahn Sidhu, Dave Tozer, PolySlyme
Kimbra chronology
Vows (2011) The Golden Echo (2014) Primal Heart (2018)
Singles from The Golden Echo
"90s Music" Released: 19 May 2014[2] "Miracle" Released: 24 July 2014[3] "Goldmine" Released: 15 July 2015[4]

Background

Kimbra was inspired by Greek mythology for the album and spent time in a small sheep farm in the middle of Los Angeles. Kimbra went to the farm the day after the 2013 Grammys. "I'd been caught up with all the Grammy and Gotye stuff happening, and the touring, the constant affirmation— or praise, or criticism, or self-reflection— everywhere," she said. "You get wrapped up in it. Then here I was chilling with a bunch of sheep. And they don't give a crap who you are. You're not special to them. You spend time with them and there's this beautiful kind of harmony of how everything works in that environment. It was a really great space to create."^[5]

Cover

The cover and all the photographs of The Golden Echo's booklet were shot by Thom Kerr, who also directed the music video for "Miracle".^[6]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	70/100[7]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
Consequence of Sound	B−[9]
Exclaim!	8/10[10]
Los Angeles Times	[11]
Paste	7/10[12]
Pitchfork	4.3/10[13]
PopMatters	[14]
Rolling Stone Australia	[15]
Spin	7/10[16]

The Golden Echo received generally positive reviews from critics. On Metacritic, the album obtained a normalised score of 70 out of 100, based on reviews from 12 selected mainstream critics.^[7]

Track listing

The Golden Echo — Standard edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Teen Heat"	Kimbra Johnson Daniel Johns	Kimbra Rich Costey	4:44
2.	"90s Music"	Johnson Mark Foster Timon Martin Stephen McQuinn Matt Morris	Kimbra Costey Major Dudes	3:36
3.	"Carolina"	Johnson Keith Ciancia Zachary Dawes Tyler Parkford Michael Shuman	Kimbra Ciancia	4:18
4.	"Goldmine"	Johnson Fraser Thornycroft-Smith	Kimbra Costey John Hill Al Shux M-Phazes[b]	4:40
5.	"Miracle"	Johnson Stephen Bruner Johns	Kimbra Costey Mystery Skulls[b]	4:49
6.	"Rescue Him"	Johnson Surahn Sidhu	Kimbra Sidhu	5:34
7.	"Madhouse"	Johnson S. Bruner Joel Whitley Ron Bruner	Kimbra Costey M-Phazes[b]	4:04
8.	"Everlovin' Ya" (featuring Bilal)	Johnson Taylor Graves	Kimbra Costey[a] Graves	4:44
9.	"As You Are"	Johnson Johns	Kimbra Costey[a]	5:21
10.	"Love in High Places"	Johnson Ciancia Sonny J Mason Morris Kaveh Rastegar	Kimbra Ciancia	5:15
11.	"Nobody But You"	Johnson John Stephens Sidhu Dave Tozer	Kimbra Costey Tozer[a] Sidhu[a]	5:22
12.	"Waltz Me to the Grave"	Johnson PolySlyme	Kimbra Costey[a] PolySlyme	7:30
Total length:				60:03

The Golden Echo — Vinyl edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
13.	"The Vanity Fair" (hidden track)	Johnson Johns	3:52
Total length:			63:55

The Golden Echo — Deluxe edition^[17]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
13.	"Slum Love"	Johnson PolySlyme	Kimbra Costey	5:04
14.	"Sugar Lies"	Johnson Francis White	Kimbra	4:10
15.	"The Magic Hour"	Johnson White	Kimbra	4:31
Total length:				73:49

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of The Golden Echo^[18]

Kimbra Johnson - vocals (all tracks); production (all tracks) Matt Bellamy - guitar (track 2) Bilal - featured artist Mario Borgatta - assistant Ron Bruner - writer (track 7) Thundercat - writer (tracks 5, 7) Keefus Ciancia - production (track 3) Martin Cooke - engineer Rich Costey - production (tracks 2, 4-5, 7-9, 11-12); executive producer; mixing Zachary Dawes - writer (track 3) Mark Foster - writer (track 2) Nicolas Fournier - engineer Fraser T. Smith - writer (track 4) Taylor Graves - writer and production (track 8) Nick Haussling - A&R Bo Hill - engineer John Hill - engineer

Daniel Johns - writer (tracks 1, 5, 9) Thom Kerr - artwork and photography John Legend - writer (track 11) Bob Ludwig - mastering M-Phazes - production (track 5) Major Dudes - production (track 2) Timon Martin - writer (track 2) Sonny J. Mason - writer, drums (track 10) Stephen McQuinn - writer (track 2) Matt Morris - writer (tracks 2, 10) Tyler Parkford - writer (track 3) Kaveh Rastegar - writer (track 10) John "JR" Robinson - drums Omar Rodríguez-López - guitar (track 13)[19] Michael Shuman - writer (track 3) Surahn "Sid" Sidhu - writing and production (track 6) Alex Tenta - design and layout Dave Tozer - writing and production (track 11) Lenny Waronker - A&R Ben Weinman - guitar (track 14)[20] Joel Whitley - writer (track 7) PolySlyme - writing and production (track 12)

Charts

Chart (2014)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[21]	5
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[22]	5
US Billboard 200[23]	43