Charm Offensive

Charm Offensive is the fourth studio album by British recording artist Shell Ruin. It was released on September 22, 2008, by Ensemble Entertainment, just shy of a year after the release of Ruin's previous studio album The Dirty Is Done (2007). The album was preceded by the lead single "Deep Comatose", released on September 15, 2008.

Musically, the album incorporates glam rock and experimental electronic music; inspirations were Spanish disco group Baccara and Swedish techno artist Håkan Lidbo. The album was met with positive reviews, with many critics complimenting its blend of retro and modern electropop music. Thematically, the album touches heavily upon loss, sex and loneliness. Despite the change in musical direction and the less commercial appeal of the album, Charm Offensive was Ruin's most successful album to date at the time of its release. The album was also lauded by critics, who praised Ruin's change of direction.

The album spawned two further Top 20 singles in the form of "Bear (Attacking)" and "Jesus Pieces". Ruin embarked on the Charm Offensive Tour in support of the album in the fall of 2008.

Album development
Recording sessions for Charm Offensive began in January 2008, a year after Ruin's return to music. Following the release of Kill Pop and The Dirty Is Done the previous year, Ruin wanted to create something more artistically challenging. Ruin took the more experimental aspects of her previous album and decided to use this as the blueprint for her new sound. Taking influence from 70s glam-rock ("Deep Comatose", "Leopard Fur Coat"), psychedelic folk ("Bear (Attacking)", "Marble Lions") and dream-pop ("Velveteen", "Jesus Pieces"), the album is Ruin's least commercial sounding effort to date. The album still has an over arching synth-pop sound, which ties its influences together and makes for a more cohesive effort.

Ruin chose to record in a studio in a Bohemian area of Bath, England, because she felt she needed a calm place to continue working. The studio's walls were covered in neon lights and Ruin used them to write down her song ideas. She recorded early demos entirely by herself and worked on pre-production using a Yamaha 02R digital mixing console. Ruin held jam sessions with Alesha and, after they built momentum writing the album, decided not to move to another studio.

The phrase "charm offensive" is defined as "a campaign of flattery, friendliness, and cajolement designed to achieve the support or agreement of others." Ruin felt the title fit the album, with its themes of loneliness, hope and sexual gratification. The album's artwork and packaging was designed by London-based design studio Big Active, who are reoccurring collaborators of Ruin. The album cover is a collage made by Mat Maitland and was inspired by the Garden of Eden. "It's basically my idea of paradise, with the naked man being Adam in the garden. The photo is cut out from an old 70s porno magazine" Ruin said in an interview discussing the album's art direction. The album cover was ranked #82 in Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Album Covers of All-Time in 2011.

Critical reception
Charm Offensive received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 72, based on 22 reviews. Uncut praised the change in Ruin's musical direction, concluding, "I doubt there'll be many better albums released this year." Alexis Petridis of The Guardian called the album "laudable, challenging and immensely enjoyable". Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine opined, "Whether it be soothing techno-ballads [...] or custom-made clubs tracks [...], Shell Ruin knows how to draw you in and, more importantly, hook you." Rolling Stone's Pat Blashill noted that "[t]ons of artists imitate the sounds of the early Eighties, but Ruin uses New Wave as a way to evoke a long history of shiny Euro-lounge music." Spin commented that on Charm Offensive, Ruin "downplays the commercial club beats in favor of buzzing live-wire synths. And Ruin wails like Kate Bush haunting a fog-soaked moor."

Dorian Lynskey of Blender wrote, "Although a few tracks retain the dance-floor beauty of The Dirty Is Done, the album's natural habitat is less supper club than strip club, and Ruin sounds right at home." Andy Hermann of PopMatters viewed Charm Offensive as "a weird, edgy album, the work of a dogged maverick talent chasing her muses wherever they take them". Wes May of About.com dubbed it a "rare electronica album of warmth and depth" and found it to be "the ultimate chillout pleasure". Drowned in Sound's Gen Williams expressed that the album's "crystalline, neon-edged beauty, its pulsing army of beats and Alison's lush, lethargically versatile vocals, swinging between sultry and seraphic throughout, make it—for now at least—a largely satisfying record that indicates imminent and deserved success for Shell Ruin". In a mixed review, Heather Phares of AllMusic commended Ruin for her "artistic risk-taking", but felt that the album "sounds unbalanced, swinging between delicate, deceptively icy ballads and heavier, dance-inspired numbers without finding much of a happy medium between them." Michael Idov of Pitchfork criticised Ruin's switch to experimental electro music, while describing Charm Offensive as "a soundtrack to excruciatingly banal seduction".[20]

PopMatters included the album on its list of the Top 50 Albums of 2008, ranking it at number 6. It was listed at number 3 on Drowned in Sound's list of the Top 75 Albums of 2008.

Promotion
To promote the album, Ruin played a fifteen date Last of the Original Dolls Tour in the United Kingdom during December 2010 which was well-documented by British media. During the tour, Ruin's behaviour was erratic and unusual. She appeared intoxicated in most of the shows and fans of Ruin expressed concern for her wellbeing. During a show in Manchester on December 16, 2010, a group of fans tried to stage an intervention for Ruin before they were escorted off stage by security.

Ruin released the single "Judas" and the promotional single "Asking for It" in January 2011. Both were commercial failures. Ruin gave no interviews to promote the album, nor did she appear on televsion. This was reportedly due to the fact that nobody had invited Ruin to appear and several magazines and television shows refused to work with Ruin at this time.

Track listing
All songs written and produced by Shell Ruin.


 * 1) "You Can Be Happy"
 * 2) "Deep Comatose"
 * 3) "Leopard Fur Coat"
 * 4) "Marble Lions"
 * 5) "Rule With An Iron Fist"
 * 6) "There Is a Place"
 * 7) "Bear (Attacking)"
 * 8) "Jesus Pieces"
 * 9) "Under the Ether"
 * 10) "Velveteen"


 * iTunes digital bonus tracks
 * 1) "Closing Down Sale"
 * 2) "Tight Sweater"
 * 3) "Charm Offensive"