Bright Like Neon Love is the debut studio album by Australian electronic music band Cut Copy, released by Modular Recordings in Australia on 5 April 2004 and in the United States on 18 May 2004. The album was released on vinyl for the first time on 20 April 2013 for Record Store Day, in a limited run of 4000 copies.[2]

Bright Like Neon Love
Studio album by
Released5 April 2004 (2004-04-05)
Studio
  • The Soft Centre (Melbourne)
  • Capitol (Paris)[a]
GenreSynth-pop[1]
Length41:52
LabelModular
ProducerDan Whitford
Cut Copy chronology
I Thought of Numbers
(2001)
Bright Like Neon Love
(2004)
In Ghost Colours
(2008)
Singles from Bright Like Neon Love
  1. "Future"
    Released: 4 May 2004
  2. "Saturdays"
    Released: 15 August 2004
  3. "Going Nowhere"
    Released: 18 January 2006

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic81/100[3]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [4]
Drowned in Sound9/10[5]
The Guardian     [6]
The Irish Times     [7]
NME8/10[8]
SpinA−[1]
Uncut     [9]

Bright Like Neon Love received widespread acclaim from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 81, based on nine reviews.[3] NME compared the album to "Technique-era New Order fed through My Bloody Valentine's distortion pedals" and described it as "the album Daft Punk should have made".[8] In his highly positive review for Drowned in Sound, Euan McLean described the album as "the record The Human League could have made if they'd remade Fleetwood Mac's Rumours in 1985" and commended the band for "mixing emotion and technology to perfection".[5]

Controversy

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The cover art of Bright Like Neon Love was closely imitated by the art for Mexican singer Thalía's album Lunada (2008). Both shared the concept of a face in close-up, wearing sunglasses and bright lipstick. Following criticism by the fans and media, Thalía claimed that the artwork had been presented to her by the design team for her label.[10][11]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Dan Whitford

No.TitleLength
1."Time Stands Still"4:34
2."Future"5:12
3."Saturdays"3:38
4."Saturdays (Reprise)"1:39
5."Going Nowhere"3:41
6."DD-5"0:26
7."That Was Just a Dream"2:34
8."Zap Zap"2:42
9."The Twilight"5:25
10."Autobahn Music Box"4:31
11."Bright Neon Payphone"3:52
12."A Dream"3:45

Personnel

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Credits adapted from the liner notes of Bright Like Neon Love.[12]

Cut Copy

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  • Dan Whitford – synths, drum machine, guitars, vocals, bass
  • Tim Hoey – original guitars, bass, noise
  • Bennett Foddy – original bass
  • Mitchell Scott – live drums

Additional musicians

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  • Dougal Binns – original acoustic guitar (track 10)
  • Philippe Zdar, Frédo Nlandu, Julien Delfaud, Alex – claps

Technical

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  • Chris Scallan – full band recording
  • Philippe Zdar – mixing (tracks 1, 2, 11)
  • Jeff Dominguez – mixing (tracks 3–5)
  • Julien Delfaud – mixing (tracks 7–10, 12)
  • Frédo Nlandu – mixing assistance
  • Pierrick Devin – mixing assistance
  • Mike Marsh – mastering
  • Dan Whitford – production

Artwork

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  • Alter – artwork, design

Charts

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Chart (2004) Peak
position
Australian Dance Albums (ARIA)[13] 10
Australian Hitseekers Albums (ARIA)[14] 19

Notes

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  1. ^ Additional recording

References

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  1. ^ a b "Breakdown". Spin. Vol. 20, no. 8. August 2004. p. 108. ISSN 0886-3032 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ "Record Store Day 2013 > Cut Copy – Bright Like Neon Love". Record Store Day. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Reviews for Bright Like Neon Love by Cut Copy". Metacritic. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  4. ^ Leijon, Erik. "Bright Like Neon Love – Cut Copy". AllMusic. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  5. ^ a b McLean, Euan (3 May 2005). "Album Review: Cut Copy – Bright Like Neon Love". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
  6. ^ Burgess, John (6 May 2005). "Cut Copy, Bright Like Neon Love". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  7. ^ Carroll, Jim (9 December 2005). "Cut Copy: Bright Like Neon Love (Modular)". The Irish Times. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  8. ^ a b "Cut Copy: Bright Like Neon Love". NME. 7 May 2005. p. 66. ISSN 0028-6362.
  9. ^ "Cut Copy: Bright Like Neon Love". Uncut. No. 99. August 2005. p. 103. ISSN 1368-0722.
  10. ^ "El regreso de Thalía será en acústico". El Universal (in Spanish). Miami. 24 July 2009. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  11. ^ "Thalía lanzará disco acústico con nueva disquera". Telemetro (in Spanish). Panamá. 23 July 2009. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  12. ^ Bright Like Neon Love (liner notes). Cut Copy. Modular Recordings. 2004. MODCD027.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  13. ^ "ARIA Dance – Week Commencing 26th April 2004" (PDF). The ARIA Report (739): 12. 26 April 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 June 2004. Retrieved 5 February 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ^ "ARIA Hitseekers – Week Commencing 26th April 2004" (PDF). The ARIA Report (739): 17. 26 April 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 June 2004. Retrieved 5 February 2020 – via National Library of Australia.