Wildlife

Wildlife is the second studio album by American post-hardcore band La Dispute, released October 4, 2011, on No Sleep Records. Recording sessions for the album took place primarily at StadiumRed in New York in April 2011. The band members of La Dispute took control of all of the production duties alongside the album’s recording engineers Andrew Everding and Joseph Pedulla.

Noted by music writers for its varied elements, Wildlife incorporates musical components from La Dispute’s previous releases, particularly Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair and Here, Hear III., and genres such as screamo, progressive rock, post-rock and spoken word. Lyrically the album, in the vision of the band, is a collection of unpublished “short stories” from a hypothetical author complete with the author’s notes and sectioned thematically by the use of four monologues. The album features themes that focus on personal loss, anger and despair.

The album debuted at number 135 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 3,140 copies in its first week. It spent 1 week on the chart and charted only in the United States. Prior to its release, Wildlife was promoted with two singles, including Harder Harmonies and The Most Beautiful Bitter Fruits.