Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History

[Music Head]

released Apr 27th, 2010



from the album - I Can Talk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJDCMth8poM

bio from all music

Mixing electronic polish with guitar-driven hooks à la Phoenix and the Postal Service, Bangor and Donaghadee, Northern Ireland's Two Door Cinema Club feature singer/guitarist/programmer Alex Trimble, guitarist/singer Sam Halliday, and bassist/singer Kevin Baird. Trimble and Halliday met in school, and met Baird through mutual friends. The trio began playing as Two Door Cinema Club in 2007 and skipped going to university to focus on the band. Fortunately, the gamble paid off — the band's debut EP, Four Words to Stand On, was released in January 2009 by the hip French label Kitsuné to positive reviews and music blog buzz, which grew with the release of April's single "Something Good Can Work." That summer, Two Door Cinema Club recorded their debut album in London's Eastcote Studios with Eliot James, which they mixed with producer Phillipe Zdar in Paris that fall. The group's remixes of Phoenix's "Lasso" and Chew Lips' "Salt Air" also appeared that year, and by 2009's end, the group was among the acts featured in the BBC Sound of 2010 Poll. Another single, "Undercover Martyn," arrived in January 2010, shortly before the band's first full-length Tourist History was released.
album review from all music

Though Two Door Cinema Club's music is resolutely indie at heart, the band released its early singles on the hip, largely electronic imprint Kitsuné. After listening to Tourist History, what the label heard in them becomes clear: Two Door Cinema Club craft immaculate pop that is infectious almost to a fault. On songs like their calling card “Something Good Can Work,” nimble guitars and drums — both live and programmed — propel yearning verses and big, hopeful choruses perfect for shouting along to. Alex Trimble’s boyish vocals recall Phoenix’s Thomas Mars and the Postal Service’s Ben Gibbard, and indeed, Two Door Cinema Club is just as adept as those bands are at fusing rock and electronic sounds into a smooth, sleek whole. Whether it’s the laser-like synths that ricochet through “Come Back Home”’s verses or streaking textures on “Do You Want It All?,” this hybrid never feels contrived or overcooked. And unlike some of their contemporaries, a unique urgency runs through Tourist History: even when trying to slow down, as on “Undercover Martyn,” the band gets carried away and the song picks up to Two Door Cinema Club’s usual brisk pace. For most of Tourist History, they stay on the right side of the fine line between consistency and monotony, and as the album unfolds, the band throws some curves into its almost scientifically perfect pop songs. “Cigarettes in the Theatre”’s trumpet solo harks back to the mid-‘80s heyday of sophisti-pop, while “I Can Talk”’s playfully sampled backing vocals show a wit that extends to lyrics like “Eat That Up, It’s Good for You”’s “You would look a little better/Don’t you know/If you just wore less makeup.” While Two Door Cinema Club don't yet have the flawless style or emotional weight of some of their influences, Tourist History just gets catchier and more stylized as it goes on, offering a promising foundation for the band to embellish with even more personality next time.

Track Listing

1 Cigarettes In the Theatre 3:34
2 Come Back Home 3:23
3 Under Cover Martyn 2:47
4 Do You Want It All? 3:29
5 This is the Life 3:30
6 Something Good Can Work 2:44
7 I Can Talk 2:57
8 What You Know 3:11
9 Eat That Up, It's Good For You 3:45
10 You're Not Stubborn 3:10