Nocturne

Nocturne is the ninth studio album by British recording artist Shell Ruin. It was released on July 25, 2016, via Fusion Records. Ruin began writing and recording while in the midst of the promotional cycle her previous album, Play, which was released in 2015 after a four year hiatus and became the best-selling album of Ruin's extensive career.

Ruin described the release of the album as "transitioning from day to night", the day-time being in reference to her previous album. In comparison to the disco-inspired pop sound of Play, Ruin intentionally wanted to create a darker soundscape. The album explores experimental R&B and trap music but with a pop sensibility. Much of the album was written during late night recording sessions where Ruin was inspired by her on-going battle with anxiety, the complexities of emotionally detached sex and her new-found fame since returning to music. Ruin has cited Janet Jackson's The Velvet Rope (1997) and Madonna's American Life (2003) as inspirations, namely because of their need to create more personal and artistically gratifying projects following periods of commercial success.

To promote the album, Ruin announced she would be making two songs available to stream every Sunday in the run-up to the album's release. Dubbed New Music Sundays, the songs were exclusively available to to Apple Music and BLOC subscribers, with each song having its own cover art. The covers were designed by Belgian artist Peter de Potter, a frequent collaborator of fashion designer Raf Simons who also created the artwork for Kanye West's The Life of Pablo (2016). De Potter was commissioned by Ruin to oversee all of the album's art direction.

Development
In 2015, Ruin worked with singer and rapper Kenya on the song "Lucid Dreams", which would become the final single from its parent studio album. The following year, Kenya joined Ruin for her Playroom World Tour as the opening act. During this time Ruin and Kenya embarked on impromptu late night writing sessions, later setting up a travelling recording studio which also acted as a tour bus. Musically, Ruin was initially inspired by Kenya's album Living (2016), which she said was her favourite album of that year. Ruin started listening to artists such as Rae Sremmurd, Kaytranada, PartyNextDoor, The Weeknd, A$AP Rocky, and Travis Scott. Their music would become the soundtrack to Ruin's aftershow parties whilst on tour, as well as being central to her personal playlists.

Ruin described the release of the album as "transitioning from day to night", the day-time being in reference to her previous album Play. In comparison to the disco-inspired pop sound of her previous album, Ruin intentionally wanted to create a darker soundscape. Sonically, the album explores experimental R&B and trap music but with a pop sensibility. Nocturne is defined as being a musical composition that is evocative of the night. The album was recording during late night sessions, mostly while Ruin was travelling the world on tour. Ruin wanted the album to have a "chilled, night time vibe". Much of the album was written during late night recording sessions where Ruin was inspired by her on-going battle with anxiety, the complexities of emotionally detatched sex and her new-found fame since returning to music. Ruin has cited Janet Jackson's The Velvet Rope (1997) and Madonna's American Life (2003) as inspirations, namely because of their ability to create more artistically challenging and personal albums following periods of commercial success.

In describing her previous album Play and Nocturne, Ruin said the two were like "day and night". The album's lyrical themes deal with the complexities of love, sex, religion and fame. Discussing the album with FADER magazine, Ruin said "you've heard of break-up records - well, this is a breakdown record. I wrote it during a short period where I was feeling particularly low. The album is the soundtrack to those moments where you just spent the night partying with friends, then come home and face the loneliness. Those moments where you hooked up with some guy and realise it doesn't fill the empty void. I feel like with my last album, I was selling a fake happiness just because that's what I believed and that's what I thought people wanted to hear." Ruin changed her traditional way of writing that she usually adopted when working with friend and collaborator Alesha. The lyrics were written in a more "loose, confessional" way much like rap songs.

Title and art direction
A nocturne is defined as being a musical composition that is evocative of the night. The album was recording during late night sessions, mostly while Ruin was travelling the world on tour. Ruin wanted the album to have a "chilled, night time vibe". The art direction was overseen by Belgian artist Peter de Potter, who had previously been a longstanding collaborator of fashion designer Raf Simons and recently created the cover art for Kanye West's The Life of Pablo (2016). Speaking about the importance of Jamie Reid's iconic artwork for the Sex Pistols, De Potter praised Reid's output as "the work of a man speaking his mind, not of someone catering to an entertainment industry." Ruin applied similar descriptions to his work for Nocturne. Following her previous album, Ruin wanted to create a distinct visual that would become synonymous with her new sound. In an interview with FADER magazine, Ruin said "Decades ago, kids had huge vinyl records, posters, billboards all over town - now the branding is diluted to just a square on your iPhone. I wanted to create a juxtaposition between posters in the 1970s and the digital age".

Critical reception
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Commercial response
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Track listing
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