Self Esteem Compliments Please Fartnoise1 2xLP gatefold + inners UK 1st 2019

	£		47
	$		62

Self Esteem "Compliments Please" Fiction Records FARTNO1SE1  UK 1st press 2 x Vinyl, LPs, housed in printed inner sleeves and released in March 2019.
The vinyl has been played once and is in immaculate condition. The LPs are housed in their original, printed inner sleeves, neither of which show any signs of wear - again, both are in immaculate condition. The gate-fold sleeve arrived with a small dink but is otherwise in great shape. The spine is intact and legible. The original promo sticker is still attached to the front.
Matrix/Runout  Side 1 ; Matrix/Runout  Side 2 ; Matrix/Runout  Side 3 ; Matrix/Runout  Side 4 ;
Rebecca Lucy Taylor (born 15 October 1986), also known by her stage name as Self Esteem, is an English musician. First known as one half of the band Slow Club, she launched a solo career as Self Esteem with the single "Your Wife" in 2017, followed by the albums Compliments Please in 2019 and Prioritise Pleasure in 2021. She is winner of the 2021 BBC Music Introducing award and Prioritise Pleasure was nominated for the 2022 Mercury Music Prize.
'Compliments Please' is the first album by the British musician Self Esteem, released on 1 March 2019.
Self Esteem/Rebecca Lucy Taylor, said that she wrote most of the record whilst happily in a relationship, but that "Rollout", "In Time" and "I'm Shy" were written in the aftermath of the breakup of that relationship. Tracks for the album were recorded by Taylor in Margate from January to September 2018 with producer and co-writer Johan Hugo Karlberg. Taylor signed a record deal with Fiction Records in April 2018. During the period of recording she played live at Latitude, Tramlines and a sold out show at Omeara Theatre London, followed by an eight-show UK tour in autumn 2018.
The first single "Wrestling" was released in July 2018 followed by "Rollout" in September 2018, "The Best" in January 2019 and "Girl Crush" in February 2019. 'Compliments Please' was released on 1 March 2019 on Fiction Records. Described as "brewing a concoction of high octane, R&B infused pop" it was well received critically, with an average rating of 80/100 according to Metacritic.
Review by Kayleigh Watson/Best Fit "For a project whose name began as a joke, Self Esteem’s solo debut is anything but. A band name that was coined ten years ago as a satirical quip upon Rebecca Lucy Taylor’s insecurities and self doubts has karmically proven itself to be a prophetic statement of intent in her new collection Compliments Please.
Compromise and outside expectations of others began to take its toll on the confidence of the ex-Slow Club member, who in being one half of a duo always felt as if she were a “meek” version of her actual self. Shedding the weight of expectation that comes with being part of an acclaimed act (the band released five albums) to partake on a voyage of creative self-discovery has led to Taylor to release the last of the restraints that were holding her back.
It’s easy to forget about Taylor’s Slow Club days when she’s belting self-aware anthems such as the iconic "Rollout" and her recent single "The Best", but such self-awareness comes hand in hand with a touch of heartache and dysphoria. “What I might have achieved, if I wasn’t trying to please” muses Taylor over and over, as if the repetition of her observation will eventually release her from its constraints. With both singles bookending the album, Compliments Please journeys from the doubt and subsequent identity crisis that comes with the turmoil of a flailing relationship to the cumulative empowerment bestowed with time.
That is not to say that Taylor is evading her emotions; tracks such as "Favourite Problem" and "She Reigns" pull at the heartstrings with their raw vulnerability as she recounts relatable moments as two people grow and their bond begins to thread. “I know I don’t behave the way you want me to be, I’d love to change my ways, but it’s too late” she and her choir recite in "I’m Shy" with a matter-of-fact resignation that some differences of character are ultimately irreconcilable.
Her love of hip hop is imbued in the very core of Compliments Please, shirking much of the folkish arrangements of Slow Club for a sound far bolder, and at 16 tracks strong it is clear that Taylor is not short of ideas. Brewing a concoction of high octane, R&B infused pop, tracks such as "Monster" and "Actors" bring an essence of unrestrained glee in both their compositions and Taylor’s soaring and emotive vocal. That aforementioned love of hip hop - most specifically Kanyé West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and inflections of autotune - is entirely palpable on "In Time", pounding beats reinforcing a chanted mantra of assurance amidst gospel euphoria.
In her first outing as a solo artist, Taylor surmises an important lesson for us all: that of prioritising your own path and growth in spite of others trying to pull you astray. “Only now am I feeling like it's alright to be ambitious or have ideas. It's blowing my mind,” she stated recently. “I was so girly, so submissive. And it's time to just be true. No one's gonna fuck with me now.”