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Turn On the Bright Lights
Studio album by Interpol
Released	August 19, 2002
Recorded	November 2001
Studio	Tarquin (Bridgeport, Connecticut)
Genre	Indie rock post-punk revival
Length	49:02
Label	Matador
Producer	Gareth Jones Peter Katis
Interpol chronology
Interpol (2002) Turn On the Bright Lights (2002) The Black EP (2003)
Singles from Turn On the Bright Lights
"PDA" Released: August 22, 2002 "Obstacle 1" Released: November 11, 2002 "Say Hello to the Angels" / "NYC" Released: April 14, 2003

Turn On the Bright Lights is the debut studio album by American rock band Interpol. It was released in the United Kingdom on August 19, 2002, and in the United States the following day, through independent record label Matador Records. The album was recorded in November 2001 at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and was co-produced, mixed and engineered by Peter Katis and Gareth Jones. Its title is taken from a repeated line in the song "NYC".

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 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart, peaking at number five. The songs "PDA", "Obstacle 1" and the double a-side single "Say Hello to the Angels" / "NYC" were released as singles, with music videos being shot for all except "Say Hello to the Angels".

Music

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In a brief interview about the fifteenth anniversary of Turn On the Bright Lights, guitarist Daniel Kessler stated the album's opening track, "Untitled" was written specifically to open the band's live shows. Lead singer Paul Banks described the riff from the song as "signature Daniel".

Promotion and release

The release of Turn On the Bright Lights was preceded by the marketing of the band's self-titled EP Interpol 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. The song "PDA" is featured as a playable track in 2008 video game Rock Band 2.

10th anniversary edition

In 2012 a remastered version of the album was released in order 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. Many of the demo recording tracks had been previously released however the 10th Anniversary Edition also contains five unreleased demo tracks from what is dubbed "Third Demo".

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	81/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Entertainment Weekly	A−
Houston Chronicle
Los Angeles Times
NME	8/10
Pitchfork	9.5/10
Record Collector
Rolling Stone
Slant Magazine
The Village Voice	C+

Turn On the Bright Lights was released to critical acclaim. The album holds a score of 81 out of 100 from the aggregate site Metacritic based on 21 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Contemporary reviews of the album often noted Interpol's influences and drew comparisons to several other acts. Michael Chamy of The Austin Chronicle cited "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." "It's almost as if Ian Curtis never hanged himself," began Blender's review, with critic Jonah Weiner adding that Paul Banks' vocals channeled Curtis' "gloomy moan." NME's Victoria Segal called Joy Division comparisons "obvious and unmistakable, airbourne in the ashen atmospherics," while praising Interpol's take on the "grey-skinned British past". Billboard wrote that Interpol had created an "homage to their particular vision of the '80s that stands proudly alongside the best of its idols." Scott Seward, writing in The Village Voice, remarked: "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."

Noel Murray of The A.V. Club opined that Interpol's virtue "lies in the way its music unfurls from pinched openings to wide-open codas", while Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone wrote that their "sleek, melancholy sound is a thing of glacial beauty". Eric Carr of Pitchfork argued that the band had forged their own distinct sound, "a grander, more theatrical atmosphere with lush production that counters their frustrated bombast", praising Turn On the Bright Lights as "one of the most strikingly passionate records I've heard this year." However, The Village Voice's Robert Christgau, naming it "Dud of the Month" in his Consumer Guide column, felt that Interpol "exemplify and counsel disengagement, self-seeking, a luxurious cynicism," downplaying Joy Division comparisons as "too kind". Q's lukewarm assessment of the album described it as "predictably claustrophobic listening".

At the end of the year, Turn On the Bright Lights featured on several publications' lists of the best albums of 2002, including those of Pitchfork, who named it the year's best album, NME, who ranked it at number ten, and Stylus Magazine, who ranked it at number five. The album placed at number 15 on The Village Voice's year-end Pazz & Jop critics' poll.

Legacy

Hailed as a seminal album of the 2000s, Turn On the Bright Lights has been cited as an influence on many indie rock bands, including the Killers, Editors, the xx, the Organ, She Wants Revenge, and others to the extent that many of these bands have been disparagingly referred to as "Interpol clones". Closely associated with 9/11-era New York City, the album has been seen as helping define 2000s indie rock, and Interpol have been cited as helping usher in the New York-born post-punk revival scene, along with contemporaries such as the Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and TV on the Radio. 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." In 2017, the band embarked on a worldwide tour to celebrate its 15th anniversary.

In a 2018 interview with Vice, Paul Banks stated: "as far as ease of making it, we had years to write these songs. The longest writing period of any of your records is your debut. We formed in 1997, so it’s five years, and three-and-a-half/four of playing shows and trying out that material. So it went down smoothly in the studio, and then you have all the excitement of it being your first album. It was a good time in our lives." Drummer Sam Fogarino reflected on the album by saying: "we were very naïve, we didn’t know how to make a record together, and we were lucky to have a good snapshot taken of who we were at the time. And we got a little more confident with every record."

At the end of the decade, the album has been featured on numerous lists:

Accolades for Turn On the Bright Lights

Publication	Accolade	Rank
Pitchfork	Top 100 Albums 2000–2004	3
Pitchfork	Top 200 Albums of the 2000s	20
Stylus	Top 50 Albums 2000–2005	6
Stylus	Top 100 Albums of the 2000s	20
NME	100 Greatest Albums of the Decade	8
NME	500 Greatest Albums of All Time	130
Rolling Stone	100 Best Albums of the Decade	59
Under the Radar	Top 200 Albums of the Decade	3
Beats Per Minute	Top 100 Albums of the Decade	7
eMusic	100 Best Albums of the Decade	9
Lost At Sea	2000–2009: Albums of the Decade	13
The Irish Times	Top 20 Albums of the Decade	10
Consequence of Sound	Top 100 Albums of the Decade	35
musicOMH	21 Best Albums of the 2000s	12
The Guardian	100 Best Albums of the 21st Century	50

Track listing

All tracks are written by Paul Banks, Daniel Kessler, Carlos Dengler and Sam Fogarino.

Personnel

Interpol

• Paul Banks – vocals, rhythm guitar
• Daniel Kessler – lead guitar, vocals on "PDA"
• Carlos D – bass guitar, keyboards
• Samuel Fogarino – drums, percussion

Audio engineers

• All songs recorded by Peter Katis
• Tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10 mixed by Peter Katis
• Tracks 3, 6, 8, 11 mixed by Gareth Jones
• Recorded and mixed at Tarquin Studios
• Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound

Design

• Sean McCabe – photography, design
• Andrew Zaeh – photography

Charts

Certifications and sales

See also

• Album era

References

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External links

• Turn On the Bright Lights at Metacritic

• 2002 debut albums
• Interpol (band) albums
• Matador Records albums
• Albums produced by Peter Katis
• Albums produced by Gareth Jones (music producer)