Nothing Is Sound is the fifth studio album by Americanalternative rock band Switchfoot. It was released on September 13, 2005[1] and debuted at number three on the Billboard 200. The first single from the album was "Stars," which was the number one most-added song on Modern Rock Radio and received much airplay on alternative rock stations upon release. A second single, "We Are One Tonight," was released in early 2006, though it did not enjoy much success on the Billboard charts.
The album was marred by major controversy over the inclusion of XCP copy protection distributed on all copies of the disc. This led to bassist Tim Foreman posting a detailed work-around on the band's website (which was promptly removed by Columbia Records). Nothing Is Sound was at the forefront of the Sony BMG CD copy prevention scandal, which eventually led to the recall of all CDs that contained the protection.
Production
Recording history
After the large success of Switchfoot's previous record, The Beautiful Letdown, the band found itself constantly touring and were forced to work on most of the new record while on the road. As a result, many of the songs on Nothing Is Sound made their public debuts at various shows on the tours. Every night on tour, the band would write parts to new songs, and test them out during the shows."There's nothing like playing a new song in front of real people with real opinions. The people at those shows, (the extended Switchfoot family), they shaped this song as much as anyone," lead singer Jon Foreman said.[2]
Music and lyrical themes
Nothing Is Sound is characterized as being a much "darker" album compared to Switchfoot's other releases. Jon Foreman even hinted that the album could be viewed as "a dark chapter revealing even more mysteries to be solved".[3] Lyrically the songs explore topics ranging from loneliness, the end of the world, anti-entropy, and the commercialization of sex.[3] The band has always viewed the album as being more hopeful than anything, pointing to songs like "The Shadow Proves the Sunshine" as how a seemingly dark theme can actually be positive. Foreman says, "I may write about how everything is meaningless, but it’s a very hopeful thing for me to be proven wrong.".[4] The song is a fan favourite and is often played live at their shows.
Musically, the record features the most densely layered guitar work by the band to date. This is attributed to the official addition to the band of touring guitarist Drew Shirley, whose work on the song "Golden" provided a "mellow, ethereal roof over top of the song," as Foreman noted.[5] "Noise never sounded more beautiful!"
In October, just over a month after its original release date, Nothing Is Sound was certified gold by the RIAA for selling 500,000 copies.[14] The incredible pacing tapered off significantly, following the revelation of Sony's rootkit on the disks. The November 1, 2006 edition of Billboard magazine reported that Nothing Is Sound had sold 549,000 units. It debuted on the Billboard 200 at number three, being the highest that any Switchfoot album has ever placed.[15] "Stars" is the best charting single of the album, reaching as high as 16 on the modern rock chart, and number 68 on the Billboard Hot 100.[16]
Copy protection controversy
In November 2005, it was revealed that Sony was distributing albums with Extended Copy Protection, a controversial feature that automatically installed rootkit software on any Microsoft Windows machine upon insertion of the disc. In addition to preventing the CD's contents from being copied, it was also revealed that the software reported the users' listening habits back to Sony and also exposed the computer to malicious attacks that exploited insecure features of the rootkit software. Though Sony refused to release a list of the affected CDs, the Electronic Frontier Foundation identified Nothing Is Sound as one of the discs with the invasive software.
Bassist Tim Foreman posted a way around the protection on the band's message boards.[17] The original post was soon deleted, which caused some people to speculate that Sony would sue the band over this issue.[18] However, no legal action has been taken. Jon Foreman would later say that he felt the album was "tainted" by this.[19]
An additional copy protection problem was found on some of the disks that were published by EMI. These disks contained Cactus Data Shield copy protection. Some copies of that version were also recalled due to incorrect copy protection settings, although they were exchanged for other copy-protected copies with the correct settings.[20]
Dual Disc release
A DualDisc version of Nothing is Sound was released simultaneously with standard editions of the album. Notable is the fact that these DualDisc CDs did not contain the copy protection software.
The DVD-side of the album featured the entire album in 5.1 Surround sound, and also includes an approximately 30-minute-long documentary on the making of the album.
Music videos
Switchfoot's first music video from this album is "Stars", which was filmed almost entirely underwater. Switchfoot has since released a live video version of "Stars", and another two videos for the album's second single "We Are One Tonight". The band also filmed a video for the song "Happy Is a Yuppie Word" in anticipation of its being released as the first single. However, it was never formally released, but was later included on the DVD Switchfootage 2 along with a video for "The Blues".
Track listing
All tracks are written by Jon Foreman, except where noted
In addition to the mainstay tracks listed above, the album was released with extra material at different stores.
Albums purchased at Target stores contained an extra track called "Goodnight Punk". The song was originally considered for the album The Beautiful Letdown but was cut from the final selection.
Albums purchased at Walmart contained a Christmas song called "Another Christmas (Old Borego)" as a bonus track, which Jon Foreman had penned earlier for a charity album released locally in the band's hometown of San Diego.
In Japan, the album was released with an alternative version of "Dare You to Move" which is featured during a montage in the band's DVD "Switchfootage", along with the unreleased track "Monday Comes Around."
Recorded at Signature Sound, Big Fish, House of Cards Studio, Big Brown Sound, Starstruck Studio, The Pass, Stellenbosch Univ. S. Africa, and dingy backstage dressing rooms.
In 2006, the album was nominated for a Dove Award for Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year at the 37th GMA Dove Awards. The song "Stars" was also nominated for two Dove Awards.[24]
