The Drift

Walker's first album composed entirely of new material since 1995's Tilt, The Drift forms the second installment of the "trilogy" that concluded with 2012's Bish Bosch.[5] In the years between Tilt and The Drift, Walker's released output comprised a few instrumental tracks on the soundtrack to the film Pola X, a cover of Bob Dylan's "I Threw It All Away" on the To Have and to Hold soundtrack, and "Only Myself to Blame" from The World Is Not Enough soundtrack, as well as a few compilations of previously released material, including the retrospective box set 5 Easy Pieces.

The Drift has been cited by many critics and fans alike as a disturbing and complex album that departs from Scott Walker's previous albums while still remaining true to his experimental roots. French singer Vanessa Contenay-Quinones appears as the voice of Clara Petacci on "Clara".

The sound and subject matter for the album is unrelentingly dark and unsettling, often juxtaposing quiet sections with sudden loud noise to induce discomfort in the listener. Subjects include torture, disease, 9/11, Elvis Presley (and his stillborn twin brother Jesse Garon Presley), and the Srebrenica massacre.[6][7]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	85/100[8]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[9]
Alternative Press	5/5[10]
The Guardian	[11]
The Independent	[12]
Mojo	[13]
musicOMH	[14]
The Observer	[15]
Pitchfork Media	9.0/10[16]
PlayLouder	[17]
The Times	[18]

• Scott Walker – vocals, guitar, harmonica, saxophone, sound treatment
• Hugh Burns – guitar
• Ian Thomas – drums
• Mark Warman – keyboards, orchestration, conducting, percussion, woodwinds, sound treatment
• Philip Sheppard – orchestration, conducting, cello
• Alasdair Malloy – percussion, drums
• John Giblin – bass
• Steve Pearce – bass
• Peter Walsh – sound treatment, sitar guitar, percussion
• Andrew Cronshaw – woodwinds, concertina
• James Stevenson – guitar
• Brian Gascoigne – keyboards, sound treatment
• Thomas Bowes – violin
• Vanessa Contenay-Quinones – vocals
• Beverly Foster – voice
• Pete Long – saxophone
• Rohan Onraet – percussion
• Lucy Painter – vocals
• Rebecca Painter – vocals
• Ralph Warman – vocals
• Derek Watkins – flugelhorn

• Produced by Scott Walker & Peter Walsh
• Engineers: Geoff Foster, Peter Walsh
• Mixing: Peter Walsh

• The Drift at MusicBrainz (list of releases)
• The Drift at the official 4AD site. Also "Jesse" video
• Album completion announcement at the official 4AD site.
• "Horrorpop!" - Momus writes about The Drift.
• Dan Warburton on The Drift