Elemental is the fourth studio album by English pop rock band Tears for Fears, released on 7 June 1993 by Mercury Records. It was the band's first album recorded following the departure of co-founder Curt Smith, with Roland Orzabal assuming sole leadership with the help of additional musicians. The album peaked at No. 5 in the UK and No. 45 in the US; it also reached the top 10 in France and Italy, the top 20 in Canada and the top 30 in several European countries. It has been certified Silver in the UK, and Gold in the US, Canada and France. The single "Break It Down Again" was a hit across Europe and North America, and was the band's last single to reach the US top 40. Elemental was the last album that Tears for Fears released under the Phonogram/Mercury label, the company to which the band had been signed since 1981. Production Elemental was the first new Tears for Fears album in four years, following 1989's The Seeds of Love. However, despite being released under the Tears for Fears moniker, it is essentially a solo effort by Roland Orzabal, as Curt Smith had left the band in 1991. Regarding the split with Smith, Orzabal stated in 1993, Orzabal publicly downplayed Tears for Fears' loss of Curt Smith, stating, "The relationship I had with Curt was like that of a producer to an artist... I’d help him get his vocals right and even write his songs for him. It wasn’t really a shared thing.” Smith released his first solo album, Soul on Board, on 23 August 1993, over two months after the release of Elemental. For much of the writing and recording of Elemental, Orzabal was assisted by musician Alan Griffiths (1959-2017), a longtime acquaintance who had collaborated with Tears for Fears before. In 1978, Griffiths became a founding member of the Bristol band Apartment, which became the new wave music band The Escape in 1981. In early 1983, The Escape signed with Phonogram Records, making the band label-mates with Tears for Fears. In late 1983, The Escape was Tears for Fears' support act; the band broke up in late 1984 and Griffiths and Escape bandmate Nicky Holland became session musicians for Tears for Fears' 1985 world tour. Holland played keyboards on Tears for Fears' The Seeds of Love, co-writing the majority of that album's songs, and her former