Art Brut vs. Satan is the third album by Art Brut, released in Europe on 20 April 2009 and in the US on 21 April. The lead-off single from the album was "Alcoholics Unanimous". The album was produced by Frank Black.
The album cover was designed by Canadian cartoonist Jeff Lemire.
Writing and recording
Explaining the concept behind Art Brut vs Satan, Argos has said; "With the first album, we were at our jobs still, so we were in studio at separate times and didn’t see each other the whole time. I thought that was kind of weird. On the It's A Bit Complicated, we tried to make a pop album and were tracking it individually as well, but we realized we’re a punk band and wanted to do this album live for the first time and went into a room and bashed it out and pressed record and often went with the first take. Our songs are true stories and I wanted to do them once or twice and record them because you’ll lose that sincerity if you do that again and again and again". As such, the decision to work with Frank Black was a simple one. "After we realized we wanted to do that we asked 'who is the expert at doing that?' and came up with Frank Black because that's how he did all of the (Frank Black and the) Catholics' albums. And also, he's cool and we wanted to hang out with him. (laughs) 'What excuse could we use to hire Frank Black?' And then he said that he liked us, so we signed him up".
"It was amazing, I was so glad when he agreed to do it. I thought I would be intimidated, because it’s Black Francis you know? But it wasn’t, it was amazing. He picked us up at the airport in his car, and he’s just such a friendly enthusiastic man. It’s hard to be intimidated by him, really, as he’s just a good person."
"In the end, he was more like a conductor – we’d rehearse, he’d suggest things and then we’d record it in one take". "He saw the recording process exactly as we saw it", Jasper elaborates. "There was very little overdubbing and guitar trickery. We recorded it all live with Charles concentrating on song arrangement rather than on specific sounds. He let the whole thing run very naturally. As we were playing it all live we got a chance to try and capture some of the energy from the stage show, which for us is very important. I can't imagine recording each part individually now. It seems a little contrived. He was everything we could have expected and more." As a result, the album was completed very quickly. "We recorded the album in a punk-as-fuck two weeks. With Black Francis conducting us, we pressed record, jumped around and played our songs. This is how I always thought albums were made and it’s definitely how we’re doing it from now on".
Reception
{ { Album ratings
| rev1 = Allmusic
| rev1Score = [ link]
| rev2 = The Fly
| rev2Score = <ref name="The Fly">{ { cite web |first=Sophie |last=Thomsett |title=Review: Art Brut, Art Brut Vs.Satan''' |url=http://www.the-fly.co.uk/words/reviews/album-reviews/4614/art-brut |publisher=Mama Group |accessdate=15 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805015221/http://www.the-fly.co.uk/words/reviews/album-reviews/4614/art-brut |archive-date=5 August 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> | rev3 = NME| rev3Score = link | rev4 = Crawdaddy!| rev4Score = favourable link | rev5 = Pitchfork Media| rev5Score = (7.7/10) link | rev6 = Planet Sound | rev6Score = link | rev7 = Robert Christgau | rev7Score = (A-) link | rev8 = The Skinny| rev8Score = link | rev9 = This Is Fake DIY | rev9Score = link }}