Tourist History is the debut studio album by Northern Irish indie rock band Two Door Cinema Club, first released in Japan on 17 February 2010, then on 1 March 2010 in the United Kingdom by Kitsuné. The album is named for the reputation of the band's hometown, Bangor, as a tourist attraction.
Tourist History won the Choice Music Prize for the 2010 Irish Album of the Year. The band said it was the first award they had ever won and donated the €10,000 prize money to charity.
Recording The band recorded the album at Eastcote Studios in London with Eliot James in July 2009, and was based in a studio adjacent to Duran Duran. The album was mixed at Phillipe Zdar's newly built studio, Motorbass, in Paris. Two Door Cinema Club were the second band to use Zdar's studio, the first being Phoenix, who recorded the Grammy Award-winning album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. During the mixing process, Zdar reportedly found it hard to understand the band's Irish accents over the first couple of days. Of working with Two Door Cinema Club, Zdar said to NME, "Their stuff was already tight—I was just able to give big bass, big highs and something a bit large! They are completely crazy about music—there is not one hour when they don't listen or download something from a blog. They remind me of me when I was a teenager." The album was mastered by Mike Marsh at the Exchange in London.
Critical reception
Tourist History received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 67, based on 12 reviews. Lou Thomas of BBC Music described the album as showing "sporadic flashes of greatness", comparing the album to the works of Editors, Foals, and the Futureheads, whilst Laura Silverman of The Times described the album as "an excited burst of short, simple indie pop songs driven by jangly guitars and punk rhythms". Dom Gourlay of Drowned in Sound described the album as "mixing Bloc Party's guile and wisdom with a pop sensibility not normally associated with modern-day guitar oriented bands" and as a "more accessible and less po-faced Antidotes".
Commercial performance Tourist History debuted at number 46 on the UK Albums Chart with first-week sales of 5,071 copies, eventually peaking 62 weeks later at number 24, in May 2011. The album was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 22 July 2013, and had sold 340,542 copies in the United Kingdom as of November 2016.
Track listing
Personnel Credits adapted from the liner notes of Tourist History and Tidal.
Two Door Cinema Club Alex Trimble – vocals Sam Halliday – guitar Kevin Baird – bass
Additional musicians Tal Amiran – additional drumming Ben Dawson – trumpet Heather McCormick – backing vocals Anthea Humphreys – backing vocals
Production Eliot James – production, recording ; mixing Philippe Zdar – mixing Mike Marsh – mastering Mathieu Meyer – design
Charts
Weekly charts + 2010–2011 weekly chart performance for Tourist History Chart (2010–2011) Peakposition Belgian Alternative Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 40 Belgian Heatseekers Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 1 European Albums (Billboard) 95 Japanese Albums (Oricon) 79
+ 2013 weekly chart performance for Tourist History Chart (2013) Peakposition
+ 2025 weekly chart performance for Tourist History Chart (2025) Peakposition Irish Independent Albums (IRMA) Note: Select 05-Dec-25 on the date selector. 11
Year-end charts + 2011 year-end chart performance for Tourist History Chart (2011) Position UK Albums (OCC) 76
+ 2012 year-end chart performance for Tourist History Chart (2012) Position UK Albums (OCC) 161
Certifications
Release history + Release history for Tourist History Region Date Edition Label Japan 17 February 2010 Standard Russia 13 January 2011 Kitsuné, Maximum, Universal Music Russia |title=Tourist History(Russian) |language=ru |publisher=Universal Music Russia Australia 26 February 2010 Ministry of Sound Australia Ireland Kitsuné France 1 March 2010 United Kingdom Germany 5 March 2010 Cooperative Music United States 27 April 2010 Glassnote Japan 2 June 2011 Deluxe
References