Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune
# Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune

Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune is a studio album by Swamp Dogg. It was released via Joyful Noise Recordings on September 7, 2018. It peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart, as well as number 28 on the Independent Albums chart.

## Production

The album was inspired by Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak. After Swamp Dogg and MoogStar recorded a rough version of the album, Ryan Olson and Justin Vernon spent several years "refining, fine-tuning, and deconstructing" these recordings. The album includes the cover versions of "Answer Me, My Love" and "Star Dust". In a 2018 interview with Los Angeles Times, Swamp Dogg said, "It's the best thing I've done since the '70s."

## Music videos

Music videos were created for "I'll Pretend", "Lonely", "Sex with Your Ex", and "Star Dust".

## Critical reception

Professional ratings :

| Aggregate scores ||
| - | - |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 74/100 |
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| Pitchfork | 7.3/10 |
| PopMatters | |
| Rolling Stone | |

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 74, based on 8 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Mark Deming of AllMusic wrote, "with Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune, Swamp Dogg takes a very deep dive into the electronic side of contemporary pop, hip-hop, and R&B, and he predictably pushes it to the wall." Elias Leight of Rolling Stone wrote, "On Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune's best songs, [Ryan] Olson's synth-heavy backdrops evoke the late Eighties, landing somewhere between early Chicago house music and twitchy hip-hop." Jon Pareles of The New York Times commented that "Swamp Dogg sets off into a bizarre, unsettled realm of computer-manipulated vocals and surreal, anything-can-happen electronic backdrops." Stephen M. Deusner of Pitchfork wrote, "The experiment succeeds because Swamp Dogg delivers on all three aspects of his album title: the ecstasies of love, the misery of loss, and the way Auto-Tune can be used to magnify those feelings."

Mojo placed it at number 56 on the "Top 75 Albums of 2018" list.

## Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.

* Swamp Dogg – vocals, keyboards (1)
* MoogStar – production, vocals (1)
* Andrew Broder – production (1, 5, 7)
* Justin Vernon – messina (1–8), vocals (3), keyboards (4)
* Romain Bly – French horn (1, 7), arrangement (1, 7, 9)
* Alistair Sung – cello (1, 7, 9)
* Thora Margret Sveinsdottir – viola (1, 7, 9)
* Shelley Soerensen – violin (1, 7)
* Marlies van Gangelen – oboe (1, 7)
* Maaike van der Linde – flute (1, 7)
* Taskforce – production (1, 8)
* Amire Johnson – keyboards (1)
* Brian Nichols – keyboards (2, 5, 6)
* Erik Andersen – keyboards (2, 5)
* Lazerbeak – boom bap (2, 5)
* Jake Hanson – guitar (2, 6)
* Charles Hayes – saxophone (2, 8)
* Chris Bierden – bass guitar (2, 9)
* Ryan Olson – keyboard bass (3), bass guitar (6), piano (9)
* Bobby Raps – snare (3), handclap (7)
* Guitar Shorty – guitar (3), headphone bleed (3)
* Seth Rosetter – deep noise (3)
* Psymun – production (4, 5)
* Sen 09 – production (4)
* Elliot Kozel – keyboards (4)
* Morgan Whirledge – keyboards (4)
* Isaac Gale – bass guitar (4)
* V*agra – shaker (4)
* Chris Eagan – drums (5)
* Josh Berg – beat (6)
* Trever Hagen – production (7)
* Jeremy Ylvisaker – guitar (7)
* Decarlo Jackson – bass guitar (7)
* Mark McGee – shaker (7)
* Drew Christopherson – hi-hat (9)
* Andre de Ridder – violin (9)
* Mayah Kadish – violin (9)
* David McMurry – photography
* Erik Madigan Heck – photography
* David J. Woodruff – layout

## Chart history

| Chart (2018) | Peak position |
| - | - |
| US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard) | 7 |
| US Independent Albums (Billboard) | 28 |
