After You

After You is the third studio album by English singer-songwriter Jack Peñate, released on 29 November 2019 through XL Recordings. It was Peñate's first album in 10 years, following 2009's Everything Is New. Peñate co-produced the album with Alex Epton, Inflo and Paul Epworth. The album was preceded by the single "Prayer". Background Peñate estimated that in the 10 years between Everything Is New and After You, he wrote "well over a thousand" songs, telling Apple Music: "I think I've probably done four [albums] where I thought, 'This is it. I've got this thing.'" He also explained "at least one" completed album was lost in a fire, and that he experienced writer's block and personal problems. Peñate also wanted to learn how to make an album entirely himself, initially estimating that it would take "four years", although it "took a lot longer than expected". He also travelled to the US, playing with the xx in New York City and then "just didn't come home", as well as Peru, which helped to inspire "Swept to the Sky". A press release described Peñate's time away as being spent "indulging in mind-expanding ritual, studying writers and poets like Hesse, Rilke and Huxley alike and looking to mysticism and mythology for answers" that inspired the "semi-religious experience" of the album. Critical reception