All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade

All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade is the fourth studio album by English garage rock band the Libertines, released on 5 April 2024 through EMI. It is also their first studio album release in over eight years, following Anthems for Doomed Youth (2015).

Background

On 14 October 2023, the band shared the lead single "Run Run Run" and announced the accompanying album. The song was seen as a "classic yet subtly raucous Libs indie dancefloor anthem". Frontman Carl Barât described it as the "lifelong project of a life on the lash" and drew comparisons to the 1971 novel Post Office.

About the album, Pete Doherty revealed that the band "really came together" and found a "moment of rare peace" creating the project comprising 11 tracks. Doherty and Barât first started working on the record in September 2022 at a studio in Geejam in Port Antonio, Jamaica before reuniting with John Hassall and Gary Powell. All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade was recorded over a four-week period in February and March 2023 at the Albion Rooms in Margate, a location owned by the band members. Produced by Dimitri Tikovoï, the recording process felt like them being all "in the same place, at the same speed" and connected for once, according to Barât. All four band members share songwriting credits on every track.

Commercial performance

All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade debuted atop the UK Albums Chart selling 21,706 units.

Track listing

Personnel

The Libertines

• Carl Barât – vocals, guitar (all tracks); piano (tracks 5, 8, 11), background vocals (9, 11)
• Pete Doherty – guitar (all tracks), background vocals (tracks 1, 2, 6, 11), vocals (5, 7, 10, 11)
• John Hassall – background vocals (tracks 1, 2, 6, 10, 11), drums (1), bass (2–11); synthesizer programming, vocals (5); piano (8)
• Gary Powell – background vocals (tracks 1, 2, 6, 10, 11), drums (2–11), string arrangement (5, 7), vocals (5), percussion (7)

Additional musicians

• Richie Kennedy – programming (all tracks), percussion (track 1), piano (2), background vocals (6), clapping (9)
• Dimitri Tikovoï – percussion (tracks 1–10), Wurlitzer electric piano (1), piano (2, 4, 7, 9, 11), organ (2), keyboards (4, 7, 9–11), background vocals (6)
• Dan Grech-Marguerat – programming
• Julie Gay – background vocals (tracks 2, 3, 11)
• Pascale Mason – background vocals (2, 3, 11)
• Alice Allen – cello (tracks 4, 5, 7, 11)
• Liam Brolly – viola (tracks 4, 5, 7, 11)
• Fiona Brice – violin (tracks 4, 5, 7, 11)
• Katrina Lee – violin (tracks 4, 5, 7, 11)
• Claude Samuel Levine – theremin (track 7)
• Atholl Ransome – saxophone (track 8)
• Malcolm Strachan – trombone, trumpet (track 8)

Technical

• Dimitri Tikovoï – production
• Matt Colton – mastering
• Dan Grech-Marguerat – mixing
• Richie Kennedy – engineering
• Matthew Boyle – engineering (tracks 4, 5, 7, 11)
• Ben Barker – engineering (track 8)
• Fiona Brice – string arrangement (tracks 4, 5, 7, 11)
• The Haggis Horns – recording arrangement (8)
• Charles Haydon Hicks – mixing assistance
• Luke Burgoyne – mixing assistance
• Eliaz Le Floch – engineering assistance
• Jason Stafford – engineering assistance

Charts

References