# House of Sugar

House of Sugar is the eighth studio album by American musician Alex G, released on September 13, 2019, through Domino Recording Company.
The album's title is a reference to both the SugarHouse Casino (now called Rivers Casino) in Philadelphia and the gingerbread house from "Hansel and Gretel".

## Recording

House of Sugar was recorded in New York City and Alex's home in Philadelphia, except for "SugarHouse (Live)" which was recorded at Duck Room at Blueberry Hill in St. Louis, Missouri on November 6, 2018. Drums for "Walk Away", "Hope", "Taking" and "Crime" were recorded at PUDH II. Drums for "Near" were recorded at The Acchione's in Philadelphia.

## Release

Alex G debuted on Billboard's Emerging Artists chart following the release of House of Sugar. The album appeared on a number of Billboard charts, including reaching the number 5 spot on the Heatseekers Albums chart as well as number 3 on Vinyl Albums, number 20 on Rock Album Sales and number 43 on Top Album Sales with 5,000 equivalent album units earned.

## Critical reception

Professional ratings :
| Aggregate scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 8.1/10 |
| Metacritic | 86/100 |
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| Clash | 8/10 |
| Consequence of Sound | B+ |
| Exclaim! | 9/10 |
| MusicOMH | |
| NME | |
| Pitchfork | 8.6/10 |
| Q | |
| The Skinny | |
| Tiny Mix Tapes | |
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, House of Sugar received an average score of 86, based on 16 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
Hannah Flint of Q praised the album's musical variation, commenting, "At first, House of Sugar can make you feel like you accidentally left the shuffle button on but, a few listens in, it's those twists and turns that make it such a satisfying listen."

### Accolades

| Publication | Accolade | Rank |
| Exclaim! | Top 20 Pop and Rock Albums of 2019 | 4 |
| Noisey | Top 100 Albums of 2019 | 3 |
| Noisey | Top 100 Albums of the 2010s | 97 |
| No Ripcord | Top 50 Albums of 2019 | 6 |
| Obscure Sound | Top 50 Albums of 2019 | 5 |
| Pitchfork | Top 50 Albums of 2019 | 17 |
| Pitchfork | Best Rock Albums of 2019 | - |
| Stereogum | Top 50 Albums of 2019 | 6 |
| Under the Radar | Top 100 Albums of 2019 | 64 |

## Track listing

All tracks are written by Alexander Giannascoli

## Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of House of Sugar.
* Alexander Giannascoli – songwriting, production, engineering
* Samuel Acchione – guitar (track 13), electric guitar (track 1), vocals (track 13)
* Colin Acchione – bass (track 3)
* John Heywood – bass (tracks 5, 13)
* Tom Kelly – drums (tracks 2, 13)
* David Allen Scoli – saxophone (track 13)
* Molly Germer – violin (tracks 3, 4, 9), vocals (track 12)
* Emily Yacina – vocals (track 3)
* Rachel Giannascoli – vocals (track 6), album art
* Jacob Portrait – mixing, engineering [drums] (tracks 3, 4, 10)
* Harrison Fore – engineering
* Heba Kadry – mastering
* Chris Bellman – lacquer cut
* David Allen Scoli – insert drawing

## Charts

| Chart | Peak position |
| UK Independent Albums (OCC) | 40 |
| US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard) | 25 |
| US Independent Albums (Billboard) | 16 |