The Thrills - So Much for the City CD

"Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far)" – 4:13

"Big Sur" – 3:07

"Don't Steal Our Sun" – 2:50

"Deckchairs and Cigarettes" – 4:58

"One Horse Town" – 3:15

"Old Friends, New Lovers" (feat. string arrangements by David Campbell) – 4:01

"Say It Ain't So" – 2:44

"Hollywood Kids" – 5:33

"Just Travelling Through" – 3:21

"Your Love Is Like Las Vegas" – 2:23

"'Til the Tide Creeps In" / "Plans" (hidden track) – 10:06

So Much for the City is the debut album of the Irish indie/pop band The Thrills. It was released in May 2003 and quickly became the number one in the Republic of Ireland where it spent 61 weeks in the top 75, and also won 'Album of the Year' at the national music awards. It was also very successful in UK, debuting at #3, remaining in the charts for 25 weeks, and gave them some attention in Europe, with the single "Big Sur" reaching #17 in the UK, which remains as their highest charted position in that country to date.

In an interview, lead singer Conor Deasy explained the band's inspiration for the song material:

“Those songs are our ways of picking us up because we were kind of miserable. We were dropped by our label. And the towns are put [in the songs] as a way of escapism, as opposed to documenting little tales about what happened when we went there. When we put in a title like "Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far)," it would literally pick us up a bit.”

The album was nominated for the 2003 Mercury Prize but lost to Dizzee Rascal's Boy in da Corner.