Released August 20, 2002 Length 49:02 Turn On the Bright Lights
(2002) The Black EP
(2003) Release date 19 August 2002 | Recorded November 2001 Label Matador Artist Interpol Producers Gareth Jones, Peter Katis | |
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Studio Tarquin Studios
(Bridgeport, Connecticut) Genres Indie rock, Post-punk, Post-punk revival Nominations NME Award for Best Reissue Similar Interpol albums, Indie rock albums | ||
Turn on the Bright Lights is the debut studio album by the American rock band Interpol, released in August 2002. The album was recorded in November 2001 at Tarquin Studios in Connecticut, and was co-produced, mixed and engineered by Peter Katis and Gareth Jones. It was released on August 19, 2002 in the United Kingdom and August 20 in the United States, through independent record label Matador Records. Upon release, the record peaked at number 101 on the UK Albums Chart. It reached number 158 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, as well as spending 73 weeks in the Billboard Independent Albums, peaking at number five.
Contents
- Interpol obstacle 1
- Promotion and release
- Critical reception
- Track listing
- Bonus tracks on Australian edition
- Bonus tracks on Japanese edition
- Bonus tracks on Mexican edition
- Personnel
- Songs
- References
"PDA", "NYC", "Obstacle 1" and "Say Hello to the Angels" were the singles from Turn On the Bright Lights, and a video was shot for each with the exception of "Say Hello to the Angels".
The album was certified Gold by the RIAA on August 29, 2011 for shipments of 500,000 copies.
A remastered version of the album was released in 2012 to commemorate its tenth anniversary. It featured additional material including demo recordings of several tracks, the bonus songs previously available on international releases and a DVD of live performances and music videos. Interpol are to embark on a tour in 2017 celebrating the album's 15th anniversary, playing the album front to back.
Interpol obstacle 1
Promotion and release
The release of Turn On the Bright Lights was preceded by the marketing of the band's self-titled Interpol EP in June 2002, their first release for Matador. The EP contained three tracks: radio single "PDA", future single "NYC", and "Specialist". All three tracks later appeared on the album, with "Specialist" included as a bonus track in Australian and Japanese editions. Further promotion continued at the beginning of the following year, when the band played the 2003 NME Awards Tour alongside The Datsuns, The Polyphonic Spree and The Thrills.
Critical reception
Upon its initial release, Turn On the Bright Lights received a score of 81 out of 100 from Metacritic based on 21 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Michael Chamy of The Austin Chronicle drew favorable comparisons between the band and a number of acts, citing "melodic Peter Hook-like basslines; the divine shoegazer textures of My Bloody Valentine and Ride; a peppy, Strokes-like bounce; and a singer who's a dead ringer for Ian Curtis." Noel Murray of The A.V. Club stated that the band's virtue "lies in the way its music unfurls from pinched openings to wide-open codas." Billboard wrote that Interpol had created "a homage to their particular vision of the '80s that stands proudly alongside the best of its idols." Scott Seward, writing in The Village Voice, likewise gave Turn on the Bright Lights a favorable review and said of Interpol: "If I like them because they remind me of eating bad bathtub mescaline in the woods and listening to Cure singles, well, that'll do. You might like them for completely different reasons."
In a three-star review of the album, Q described Turn On the Bright Lights as "predictably claustrophobic listening". Robert Christgau, assigning the album as "Dud of the Month" in his Consumer Guide column for The Village Voice, felt that comparisons to Joy Division were "too kind" of an assessment for the band, who he felt "exemplify and counsel disengagement, self-seeking, a luxurious cynicism."
Turn On the Bright Lights ranked at number 15 on The Village Voice's year-end Pazz & Jop critics' poll for 2002. The album gained so much critical success that not only was it hailed as one of the best debuts of 2002, but is considered by some to be one of the best and most influential records of the 2000s. Summing up the album's impact in a review of its 2012 re-issue, Matt LeMay of Pitchfork wrote: "Suggesting that this album is simply a product of its time and place is no less naive than suggesting that anyone who has ever been in love could easily write, arrange and record an amazing love song. There were a lot of good bands in New York in 2002, but only one band made this record."
Track listing
All tracks written by Interpol.
Bonus tracks on Australian edition
Bonus tracks on Japanese edition
Two different versions exist. One version has the following bonus tracks:
The other version has the following bonus tracks:
Bonus tracks on Mexican edition
Personnel
Songs
1Untitled3:57
2Obstacle 14:11
3NYC4:20