| Gentle Confrontation | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Loraine James |
| Cover: | Loraine James - Gentle Confrontation.png |
| Alt: | A photograph of James with short pink hair resting her head on her tattooed arm |
| Genre: | Electronic |
| Length: | 56:38 |
| Label: | Hyperdub |
| Producer: | Loraine James |
| Prev Title: | Building Something Beautiful for Me |
| Prev Year: | 2022 |
Gentle Confrontation is the fifth album by London-based electronic musician Loraine James, released on 22 September 2023 through Hyperdub. It was produced by James and received acclaim from critics.
On 23 May 2023, Loraine James announced the release of her fifth studio album, along with the release of the first single "2003".[1]
Gentle Confrontation received a score of 84 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on four critics' reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Uncut called the album "a varied, disjointed, entirely unpredictable yet utterly singular record", and Mojo felt that "it's the emotional, cathartic journey of the chief protagonist that captivates the most". Pitchforks Christine Kakaire wrote that James "uses chaotic arrangements and glitchy drums to express knotty, difficult-to-name emotions" on the album, which "sprawls, and each track settles into a distinct tonality".
The Wire called the tracks "vignettes of memory and emotion, which see her thoughtful production informed by IDM, glitch and electronic emo. True to the album's concept, there's a charming bedroom maximalism" and concluded that it is a "lovely, affecting record". Patrick Gamble of The Skinny found that the "most interesting moments are those where James' voice takes centre stage" as she "take a scalpel blade to her discography, only to reassemble the pieces into a record that plays like a victory lap".
| List | Rank | Ref | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clash | Clashs Albums of the Year | 8 | [2] | |
| Exclaim! | Exclaim!s Top 50 Albums of 2023 | 26 | [3] | |
| The Guardian | The Guardians Top 50 Albums of 2023 | 36 | [4] | |
| NME | NMEs Best Albums of 2023 | 25 | [5] | |
| PopMatters | PopMatters Top 80 Albums of 2023 | 13 | [6] |