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'{{Infobox Album | Name = Nothing Is Sound | Type = [[Album]] | Artist = [[Switchfoot]] | Cover = Nothingissoundcover.jpg | Released = September 13, 2005 | Recorded = Signature Sound<br/>Big Fish<br/>House of Cards Studio<br/>Big Brown Sound<br/>Starstruck Studio<br/>The Pass<br/>Stellenbosch Univ. S Africa | Genre = [[Alternative rock]], [[Post-grunge]], [[Hard rock]] | Length = 50:54| Label = [[Sparrow Records|Sparrow]]/[[Columbia Records|Columbia]] | Producer = [[John Fields (Producer)|John Fields]], Switchfoot | Reviews = *[[Allmusic]] {{rating|3|5}} [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:oq65mpb09fco~T1 link] *''[[Rolling Stone]]'' {{rating|3|5}} [http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/7623594/nothing_is_sound link] *[[IGN]] {{rating|6|10}} [http://music.ign.com/articles/657/657425p1.html link] *''[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]]'' {{rating|3|5}} [http://www.pastemagazine.com/action/article/2258/review/music/switchfoot_nothing_is_sound link] *[[Jesus Freak Hideout]] {{rating|4.5|5}} [http://www.jesusfreakhideout.com/cdreviews/NothingIsSound.asp link] *[[Cross Rhythms]] {{rating|10|10}} [http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/products/Switchfoot/Nothing_Is_Sound/13557/ link]| Last album = ''[[The Beautiful Letdown]]'' <br />(2003)| This album = '''''Nothing Is Sound''''' <br />(2005)| Next album = ''[[Oh! Gravity.]]'' <br />(2006)| | Misc = {{Singles | Name = Nothing Is Sound | Type = studio | single 1 = [[Stars (Switchfoot song)|Stars]] | single 1 date = 2005 | single 2 = [[We Are One Tonight]] | single 2 date = 2006 }} }} '''''Nothing Is Sound''''' is the fifth studio album by [[United States|American]] [[alternative rock]] band [[Switchfoot]]. Next to the band's breakthrough album, ''[[The Beautiful Letdown]]'', it is often cited as the greatest of the Switchfoot albums, being a near-unanimous favorite with Switchfoot fans.<ref>[http://www.switchfoot.com/community/index.php?showtopic=8001 Nothing is Sound]</ref> It was released on September 13, 2005, and debuted at number three on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]]. The first single from this 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, but without much success on the ''[[Billboard (magazine)|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 CD's 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.<ref>{{cite web |last= Jon |first= Foreman |authorlink= Jon Foreman |title= Nothing Is Sound Song Stories |date=2005-09-12 |url= http://learning2breathe.com/nissongs.html |accessdate= 2008-03-27}}</ref> ===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".<ref name="days">{{cite web | last = Foreman | first = Jon | authorlink = Jon Foreman | title = 12 days of Switchfoot | date = 2005-09-12 | url = http://www.switchfoot.com/12days12.htm | accessdate = 2007-06-27 }}</ref> Lyrically the songs explore topics ranging from loneliness, the end of the world, anti-entropy, and the commercialization of sex.<ref name="days"/> 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."<ref>{{cite web | title = Switchfoot, nothing is sound | date = 2005-08-26 | url = http://www.switchfoot.com/bandbio.htm | accessdate = 2007-06-27 }}</ref> 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.<ref>[http://www.landofbrokenhearts.org/SoundSongStories.htm Nothing Is Sound Song Stories] - Published November 2005 (retrieved January 17, 2009)</ref> "Noise never sounded more beautiful!" ==Market success== In October, just over a month after its original release date, ''Nothing Is Sound'' was certified gold by the [[Recording Industry Association of America|RIAA]] for selling 500,000 copies.<ref name="euro tour dates">{{cite web |url=http://www.christiantoday.com/article/switchfoot.announces.european.tour/6641.htm |title=Switchfoot Announces European Tour Dates |date=2006-06-19 |accessdate=2008-07-27 |author=Courtney Lee |work=[[Christian Today]]}}</ref> The incredible pacing tapered off significantly, following the revelation of Sony's [[rootkit]] on the disks. The November 1st, 2006 edition of ''Billboard'' magazine reported that ''Nothing Is Sound'' had sold 549,000 units. It debuted on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]] at number three, being the highest that any Switchfoot album has ever placed.<ref>{{cite web |title= Artist Chart History – Switchfoot |work=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |url= http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.chartFormatGroupName=Albums&model.vnuArtistId=182160&model.vnuAlbumId=801137 |accessdate= 2007-02-09}}</ref> "[[Stars (Switchfoot song)|Stars]]" is the best charting single of the album, reaching as high as 16 on the [[Hot Modern Rock Tracks|modern rock chart]], and number 68 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.vnuArtistId=182160&model.vnuAlbumId=801137 |title=Artist Chart History – Switchfoot |accessdate=2008-07-27 |work=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]}}</ref> ==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 CDs 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 bands message boards.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ilikeswitchfoot.homestead.com/files/copyright.txt |title=ilikeswitchfoot.homestead.com |accessdate=2006-08-13 |last=Foreman |first=Tim |authorlink=Tim Foreman |date=2005-09-14}}</ref> The original post was soon deleted, which caused some people to speculate that Sony would sue the band over this issue.<ref>{{cite news |url = http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/19/0343251 |title = Artist Suggesting Ways Around Copy Protection |publisher = [[Slashdot]] |date=2005-09-19 |accessdate = 2006-08-13}}</ref> However, no legal action has been taken. Jon Foreman would later say that he felt the album was "tainted" by this.<ref>{{cite news |first = Melinda |last = Newman |url = http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=musicNews&storyID=2006-06-24T014413Z_01_N23385768_RTRIDST_0_MUSIC-SWITCHFOOT-DC.XML |title = Switchfoot switches plans, back in studio |publisher = [[Reuters]] |date =2006-06-26 |accessdate = 2006-08-13}}{{Dead link|date=July 2008}}</ref> 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. Ironically, 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.<ref>{{cite press release |title= Recall of Switchfoot, "Nothing is Sound," Discs |publisher= ''[[EMI]]'' |url= http://www.emimusic.info/us_EN/ |accessdate= 2007-02-09}}</ref> ==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 cd's 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 it being released as the first single. However, it was never formally released, but was later included on the DVD ''[[Switchfootage#Switchfootage 2|Switchfootage 2]]'' along with a video for The Blues. ==Track listing== All songs written by [[Jon Foreman]] except where noted. #"[[Lonely Nation]]" – 3:44 <small>(Jon Foreman, Tim Foreman)</small> #"[[Stars (Switchfoot song)|Stars]]" – 4:20 #"Happy Is a Yuppie Word" – 4:49 #"The Shadow Proves the Sunshine" – 5:04 #"Easier Than Love" – 4:28 <small>(Jon Foreman, Tim Foreman)</small> #"The Blues" – 5:15 #"The Setting Sun" – 4:24 #"Politicians" – 3:26 #"Golden" – 3:35 #"The Fatal Wound" – 2:44 #"[[We Are One Tonight]]" – 4:39 <small>(Jon Foreman, Tim Foreman)</small> #"Daisy" – 4:20 ===Extra songs=== In addition to the mainstay tracks listed above, the album was released with extra material at different stores. *Albums purchased at [[Target Corporation|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 [[Wal-Mart]] contained a Christmas song called "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 (filmmaking)|montage]] in the band's DVD "''[[Switchfootage]]''", along with the unreleased track "Monday Comes Around." *Albums purchased at [[iTunes]] included an acoustic version of the song "Stars". ==Charts== {|class="wikitable" !align="left"|Year !align="left"|Chart !align="left"|Position |- |align="left"|2005 |align="left"|[[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]] |align="center"|#3 |- |align="left"|2005 |align="left"|Top Internet albums |align="center"|#1 |- |align="left"|2005 |align="left"|Top Christian albums |align="center"|#1 |- |align="left"|2005 |align="left"|Australian Charts |align="center"|#25 |- |align="left"|2005 |align="left"|New Zealand Charts |align="center"|#31 |} ==Personnel== ;Switchfoot *Jon Foreman – [[guitar]], [[vocals]] *Tim Foreman – [[Bass guitar|bass]], [[backing vocals]] *Chad Butler – [[Drum kit|drums]], [[percussion]] *Jerome Fontamillas – [[Keyboard instrument|keyboard]], [[guitar]], [[backing vocals]] *Andrew Shirley – [[guitar]], [[backing vocals]] ;Additional musicians<ref>CD Liner Notes</ref> *Chris Westlake – [[String section|strings]] *[[Tommy Barbarella]] – [[String section|strings]] *Todd Cooper – [[Vocals|choral vocals]] *Jimmy Coup – [[Vocals|choral vocals]] *Joel Hossler – [[Vocals|choral vocals]] *The Kuyasa Kids – [[Vocals|choral vocals]] *[[Andy Sturmer]] – [[backing vocals]] *Rachel Masen - [[backing vocals]] ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://learning2breathe.com/nis.html ''Nothing Is Sound'' lyrics] *[http://learning2breathe.com/nissongs.html ''Nothing Is Sound'' song stories] *[http://www.switchfoot.com/bandbio.htm Switchfoot - ''Nothing Is Sound'' press release] *[http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2005/11/are-you-infected-sony-bmgs-rootkit ''Are You Affected By Sony-BMG's Rootkit?''] (November 9, 2005) from [[Electronic Frontier Foundation]] {{Switchfoot}} [[Category:2005 albums]] [[Category:Switchfoot albums]] [[Category:Columbia Records albums]] [[Category:Sparrow Records albums]] [[pt:Nothing Is Sound]] [[ru:Nothing Is Sound]]'