A Mouthful is the debut album by French/Finnish indie rock band The Dø, released on 14 January 2008. It spawned two singles: "On My Shoulders" (2007) and "At Last!" (2008).[1] The album was given a US release in April 2010, featuring additional versions of three of the album's songs as bonus tracks.

A Mouthful
Studio album by
Released14 January 2008
Recorded2007
GenreIndie rock, folk rock
Length42:34
LabelCinq7
Wagram
Get Døwn!
ProducerThe Dø
The Dø chronology
A Mouthful
(2008)
Both Ways Open Jaws
(2011)

Track listing

edit

All songs written by Olivia Bouyssou Merilahti and Dan Levy.[2]

  1. "Playground Hustle" – 2:55
  2. "At Last!" – 4:09
  3. "On My Shoulders" – 5:21
  4. "Song for Lovers" – 2:24
  5. "The Bridge Is Broken" – 4:42
  6. "Stay (Just a Little Bit More)" – 3:06
  7. "Unissasi laulelet" – 2:19
  8. "Tammie" – 3:15
  9. "Queen Dot Kong" – 3:14
  10. "Coda" – 1:57
  11. "Searching Gold" – 5:10
  12. "When Was I Last Home?" – 3:34
  13. "Travel Light" – 4:02
  14. "Aha" – 4:19
  15. "In My Box" – 1:48

Bonus tracks on the US release

edit
  1. "On My Shoulders" (chamber version) – 5:35
  2. "Unissasi laulelet" (chamber version) – 3:55
  3. "Playground Hustle'N'Bustle" – 11:19

Critical reception

edit
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [3]
Drowned in Sound(9/10)[4]
Les Inrockuptibles(Favorable)[5]
Pitchfork Media(7.5/10)[6]

Pitchfork Media gave the album a rating of 7.5 out of 10, noting "[A Mouthful] tries to balance the mature and the immature" and that "[Olivia B. Merilahti and Dan Levy] aren't shy about toying with musical categories (...) which compensates for the less-than-advisable inclusions, and the record is as ambitious and fun as any coming-out party in recent memory", but criticizing the lack of a better quality control.[6]

Drowned in Sound gave it a rating of 9 out of 10, saying the band is like "a female Eminem backed with a brass band" or "PJ Harvey on the Moon".[4]

French magazine Les Inrockuptibles gave a positive review, calling them a "cool and promising band".[5]

The album was nominated for the Prix Constantin in 2008 but did not win.

Charts

edit

A Mouthful topped the French charts in its first week. It is the first English-sung pop French record to top the albums chart in France.[7][8]

Chart (2008) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[9] 49
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[10] 39
French Albums (SNEP)[11] 1
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[12] 52

Sales

edit
Region Certification Certified units/sales
France 150,000[13]

It was awarded a gold certification from the Independent Music Companies Association which indicated sales of at least 100,000 copies throughout Europe.[14]

References

edit
  1. ^ The Do
  2. ^ A Mouthful back cover.
  3. ^ Hoffman, K. Ross. "The Dø: A Mouthful". AllMusic. Retrieved 2016-05-11.
  4. ^ a b "Drowned in Sound review". Archived from the original on 2009-03-31. Retrieved 2009-01-13.
  5. ^ a b Les Inrockuptibles, February 2008.
  6. ^ a b A Mouthful | Pitchfork Archived June 1, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ THE DO - Biographie, albums, clips, cd sur MCM.net (archived link)
  8. ^ The Dø – Aha – swisscharts.com
  9. ^ "ultratop.be - The Dø - A Mouthful". Ultratop and Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  10. ^ "finnishcharts.com - The Dø - A Mouthful". Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  11. ^ "lescharts.com - The Dø - A Mouthful". Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  12. ^ "The Dø - A Mouthful - swisscharts.com". Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  13. ^ Pichevin, Aymeric (9 January 2010). "The Do the Dø". Billboard. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  14. ^ "Color". Archived from the original on 2015-12-27. Retrieved 2017-08-13.