#29: Tourist History

Tourist History

Two Door Cinema Club

2010

Kitsuné Records (Europe, based in France)

Glassnote Records (US)

Peak position on the charts:

#33 - UK Albums Chart

N/A - US Billboard 200

Ironically, and I swear I didn't know this at the time, I've started this countdown with two debut albums by artists from the British Isles who signed with Glassnote Records in the United States. At that point, though, the similarities between Two Door Cinema Club and Mumford and Sons end.

Two Door Cinema Club formed in Northern Ireland in 2007 and gained their roots by posting their music on MySpace. Followers of the group grew to the point that the band decided to drop out of the university they attended (where the members met) and pursue a career in music. Three years later, Tourist History was created.

A mix of the riffing guitars of Les Savvy Fav, the sounds of Vampire Weekend, and a hint of vocals that can be compared to those of Ben Gibbard, Two Door Cinema Club have developed a unique conglomeration of styles already produced by established bands. What results is an upbeat, thick-but-clean set of songs that are very easy to listen to.

Tourist History as a whole is extremely consistent; never will you find me skipping a song in anticipation of the next one. Each song is comparable in strength to the one before it.

That very consistency, though, is somewhat of its downfall.

I kept expecting, as the album wound down, to find at least some resemblance of a slow song, a song with a relaxed beat and softer guitars and lyrics (as almost all albums seem to), but it was not to come. (The first fifteen or so seconds of "Eat This Up, It's Good For You" offer what seems to be the start of soft tune, but the fast-paced electro-beats immediately set you straight.) This, of course, is not an automatic knock off its overall rating, but the ten songs that make up Tourist History are all nearly identical in structure, sound, and style, leading to what appears to be a lack of depth and creativity.

That being said, though, there's a reason I placed this album above Mumford and Son's Sigh No More. Mumford and Son's may offer a bit more complexity, and definitely more variety, with their offerings, and several of the songs on Sigh No More are better than anything Tourism History has to offer, but outside of Mumford's great songs are a few that seem to miss the mark. As I go through the tracks on Sigh No More, it just seems to fall off somewhere after the end of "Little Lion Man". Tourist History keeps pumpin' til the very last second. Literally.

And while I said Two Door Cinema Club never really changed their structure and sound throughout Tourist History, the fact remains that the structure and sound they did use was remarkable. Each song is catchy, masterful, and just plain fun to listen to.

The music world can only hope for a Cage-The-Elephant-esque explosion of experimentation and creativity in their next album. It should be fantastic.

Below I have embedded a link for "I Can Talk", as well as a full track listing for the album (since I couldn't really recommend a set four or five).

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Track Listing:

1. Cigarettes in the Theatre (3.33)
2. Come Back Home (3.23)
3. Undercover Martyn (2.47)
4. Do You Want It All? (3.28)
5. This Is the Life (3.30)
6. Something Good Can Work (2.43)
7. I Can Talk (2.56)
8. What You Know (3.10)
9. Eat That Up, It's Good For You (3.44)
10. You're Not Stubborn (3.11)