Ritual (electronic band)

Ritual
Origin	London, United Kingdom
Genres	Electronic pop R&B
Years active	2014–present
Labels	Island/Universal
Members	Adam Midgley (aka Adam Gross) Tommy Baxter Gerard O'Connell
Website	www.ritual-music.com

Ritual are an English electronic musical group, songwriters and producers from London, United Kingdom. The three-piece band consists of Adam Midgley aka Adam Gross, Tommy Baxter, and Gerard O'Connell. While they became known for their work with others, most notably the gold UK single, "Hotter Than Hell" from Dua Lipa, since 2014 they have released four EPs, as well as an audio-visual project called, No Escape Out of Time. In 2019, Ritual released their Dreamers Never Learn album, and single, "Love Me Back" featuring Tove Styrke.

According to Billboard, Ritual uses "minimalist instrumentation, male-female vocal pairing and deeply personal but accessible lyrics," that "feels honest and fresh."^[1]

Career

History

Ritual was formed by producers Tommy Baxter and Adam Gross in the London music scene where Baxter was a touring guitarist, while Gross created hip-hop beats for independent UK artists^{[citation needed]}. They met Gerard O'Connnell,^[2] who was writing songs with the Xenomania production house for the likes of Kylie Minogue.^[3] As a trio, they wrote songs for other artists and released their own EPs beginning December 2014 with their debut, The Fall.^[4]

Ritual were signed to Island, who picked up their debut, and released their second EP, From the City to the Wilderness, in March 2015.^[5] "Josephine" was the lead single from the EP described as "a marvelously down tempo tune, all plaintive piano chords, guitars, shuffling beats and a dreamy exchange between the Ritual front man and Lisa Hannigan (a solo singer and frequent, early-years Damien Rice collaborator)."^[6] The second single released off From City to the Wilderness was "Low Season".^[7]

A hip hop remix version of the EP called From the Wilderness to the City was released shortly after in June 2015.^[2] "Low Season," with added vocals from Raye, was the first track released from the remix EP.^[8]

In 2015, the three participated in writing sessions for R&B artist Mononoke, (real name Katie Taylor) and she became the featured guest vocalist on the second single called "Bottle Tops" from Ritual's third EP entitled Every Night Another But Not You.^[9] From there, Ritual then went on to feature Mononoke's vocals on the full No Escape Out of Time project.^[10]

In September 2017, Ritual released a 10-song audio visual project entitled No Escape Out of Time, where every song had a video accompaniment directed by Jackson Ducasse.^[11][1] No Escape Out of Time ties together the previous music videos for "Drown the Lovers" and "Wouldn't Be Love" with a final installment for "Better By Now," making a full story line about love and loss.^[10]

For the remix of "Drown the Lovers," Ritual recruited 6lack to rap a verse on the track. Zane Lowe premiered the remix as a World Record on Beats 1 radio.^[12][13] For another song off the EP, Denzel Curry contributes a verse to "Real Feels."^[14]

The song, "The Only One" was featured on the soundtrack to the Jaden Smith-starring film, "Skate Kitchen". The album, on Darkroom/Interscope Records, came out September 2018 following the August release of the film.^[15]

In January 2019, Ritual released the first single from their new album, Dreamers Never Learn, which features the band and numerous female artists in a series of 21st Century love songs. The single, "Love Me Back", was co-written by Grammy-nominated Emily Warren^[16] and features the vocals of Swedish pop singer, Tove Styrke.^[17] Of "Love Me Back", Mother Jones magazine wrote: "In this single, all of its beats—the melody, the lyrics, the rhythm, and the delivery—hit all the points from start to finish."^[18]

Work with others

Ritual have written songs for other artists, including Dua Lipa, Bishop Briggs,^[19] Avicii,^[20] Little Mix,^[21] among others.

For the UK indie pop singer, Frances, they produced and contributed guest vocals on the track, "When It Comes to Us," for her debut EP, Grow, in July 2015. The song was the second single from the album.^[22]

The group wrote the gold-selling UK single "Hotter Than Hell" for Dua Lipa, which was included on her self-titled debut album, both released in 2016.^[23] In Rolling Stone, Lipa credits working with Ritual as the time when she found her songwriting style.^[24]

In October 2016, Ritual wrote and were featured on "You Remain," a song from French DJ and record producer Kungs on his Layers album released a month later.^[25]

Their 2019 album, Dreamers Never Learn features the vocals of Tove Styrke, and other female singers.

Tours

Support

LANY (2017)^[26]

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Details
No Escape Out of Time	Released: 29 September 2017 Label: Island, Decisive (Universal Music) Format: Digital download, CD

Extended plays

Title	Details
The Fall	Released: 2014 Label: Island/Universal Format: Digital download, CD
From the City to the Wilderness	Released: 2015 Label: Island/Universal Format: Digital download, CD
From the Wilderness to the City	Released: 2015 Label: Island/Universal Format: Digital download, CD
Every Night Another but Not You	Released: 2016 Label: Island/Universal Format: Digital download, CD

Singles

As lead artists

Title	Year	Album
"Cinnamon" (acoustic)	2016	Non-album singles
"Real Feels" (Ritual Remix) (featuring Kweku Collins)	2017
"Josephine" (acoustic)	2018

As featured artists

Title	Year	Peak chart positions			Artist(s)
		FRA [27]	US Airplay [28]	US Sales [29]
"When It Comes to Us"	2015	—	—	—	Frances
"You Remain"	2016	45	—	46	Kungs
"Hallucinations"	2017	—	17	—	R3hab

Production/songwriting credits

Title	Year	Artist	Label	Notes
"I Need a Dollar" (Radio Mix)	2010	Aloe Blacc	Stones Throw Records/Sony	Additional production
"Heartstrings"		Kylie Minogue	Parlophone	Songwriters
"Mighty Rivers"				Songwriters
"Mr. Postman"	2013	Diana Vickers	So Recordings	Songwriters
"La vita che morrel"		Alessandra Amoroso	Sony	Songwriters
"Good Girl"	2015	Aquilo	Island	Production
"Touch Me"		Avicii	Island/Universal	Songwriters
"Hotter Than Hell"	2016	Dua Lipa	Warner Bros	Songwriters
"Lion's Den"		Lawson	Polydor	Songwriters
"Grow Up"		Olly Murs	Epic	Production
"How Much for Your Love"				Production
"Nobody Like You"		Little Mix	Syco/Sony	Additional production
"No More Alone"	2017	Norma Jean Martine	BMG/Virgin EMI	Songwriters
"Hope"		Take That	Polydor	Songwriters
"Someone's Somebody"		Jasmine Thompson	Atlantic	Songwriters
"Cover Girls" feat. Bibi Bourelly		Hitimpulse	Ultra	Songwriters
"Ashes"		Grace Carter	Polydor	Co-production
"Parking Lots"	2018	Balcony	Entourage	Songwriters
"For You"		Iman Osman	Independent	Songwriters/Production
"Nothing Really Matters"	2019	Gabrielle Aplin	AWAL	Songwriters/Production
"24"		Skaar	Warner Bros	Songwriters
"All for You" feat. Karen Harding		Wilkinson	RAM/Virgin EMI	Songwriters
"Without You" with Nina Nesbitt		John Newman	Island	Songwriters/Production
"Like It Is" with Zara Larsson and Tyga	2020	Kygo	Sony	Songwriters
"Wake Up"		Now United	AWAL	Songwriters
"Paradise" feat. Dermot Kennedy		Meduza	Polydor/Virgin EMI	Songwriters
"Hurt"	2021	Aksel		Songwriters
"Heat" with Amber Mark		Paul Woolford	Ministry of Sound	Songwriters
"Cuts & Bruises"		Josie Man	Promised Land	Songwriters/Production
"Again Again"	2022	Sea Girls	Polydor	Songwriters
"Watch Your Step"				Songwriters

References

1. Kress, Bryan (7 July 2017). "RITUAL 'Better By Now' in Latest Single for 'No Escape' Video Series: Exclusive". Billboard. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
2. "Ritual". allmusic.com. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
3. "Gerard O'Connell Songwriting Tutor". Institute of Contemporary Music Performance. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
4. Gardner, Constant (12 November 2014). "Premiere: R I T U A L – "Blood Flow"". Pigeons And Planes. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
5. McMillan, Louisa (17 November 2015). "Ritual-From The City To The Wilderness". Essentially Pop. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
6. Bennett, Kim Taylor (4 August 2015). "Ritual's "Josephine" Is Wintry Wonderful". Vice. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
7. O'Brien, George (5 June 2015). "R I T U A L unveil a sparse, pulsating new track "Low Season" from their forthcoming EP". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
8. Roden, Tom (12 November 2015). "It takes guts to remix your killer R&B track. But it takes talent to make it just as dope". Fresh Beats 365. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
9. Checketts, Joly (31 October 2016). "RITUAL release long-awaited third EP 'Every Night Another But Not You'". Charm Factory. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
10. Roundtree, Rachel (7 October 2017). "R I T U A L "No Escape Out Of Time" Review". Charm Magazine. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
11. O'Connor, Roisin (September 2017). "RITUAL shares video for 'Wouldn't Be Love' – premiere". Independent. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
12. Carillo, Valentina (28 September 2017). "RITUAL's "Drown The Lovers" Remix feat. 6LACK Gets Us Deep in Our Feelings". Ones to Watch. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
13. Williams, Aaron (26 September 2017). "Electronic Duo Ritual Add 6lack To Their Chilly 'Drown The Lovers' Remix". Uproxx. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
14. CM, Emmanuel (7 April 2017). "DENZEL CURRY JOINS RITUAL FOR NEW SONG "REAL FEELS"". XXL Magazine. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
15. Allah, Sha Be (28 September 2018). "'SKATE KITCHEN' SOUNDTRACK OUT NOW ON DARKROOM/INTERSCOPE RECORDS". The Source. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
16. Lerner, Rebecca (5 October 2018). "How Grammy-Winning Songwriter Emily Warren Is Forging Her Own Path". Forbes. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
17. Howard, Lindsay (24 January 2019). "RITUAL & Tove Styrke team up for glowing 'Love Me Back'". Variance. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
18. Van Pykeren, Sam (25 January 2019). "For Algorithmic Perfection, All You Need Is Tove Styrke and Ritual's New Single". Mother Jones. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
19. Manders, Hayden (5 December 2016). "RITUAL Is Making Music For The Longing Soul". Nylon Magazine. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
20. "Avicii Touch Me". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
21. "Little Mix – Glory Days". Discogs.com.
22. Kameir (6 July 2015). "Opposites Attract On Frances And RITUAL's "When It Comes To Us"". The Fader. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
23. "'new rules' is dua lipa's third platinum single in the uk". MTV UK. 13 October 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
24. Weiner, Jonah (23 February 2018). "Dua Lipa: Pop's Warrior of Love". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
25. ""You Remain" : Kungs enchaîne avec un tube chill et ensoleillé". Charts In France. 19 February 2017.
26. "RITUAL". songkick.com. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
27. Hung, Steffen. "lescharts.com – Kungs feat. Ritual – You Remain". lescharts.com. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
28. "Ritual Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
29. "Ritual Dance Sales". Billboard. Retrieved 9 November 2018.