Lanterns is a song from the rock band Birds Of Tokyo.
It is part of their fourth album, "March Fires".
The Australian band is formed from Ian Barney, Ian Kenny, Adam Weston, Adam Spark and Glenn Sarangapany. The alternative rock group became active in 2004 when they started releasing songs by themselves. According to the members, the inspirations for their name came from the lack of birds in Tokyo:
"We thought that was interesting, no birds in Tokyo — we thought, we'll be the birds of Tokyo".
On February 3rd, 2007, they released their first album, "Day One".
Soon after, they embarked on the "Day One Tour", throughout Australia. In the same year, Rolling Stones magazine named them "Artists To Watch". Birds Of Tokyo's next album, "Universes", came in 2008 and encountered great success.
By the end of 2009, the alternative rock band went on a second tour, "Broken Strings", to promote their songs. The following year, they started working on their self-titled, third studio album. The fourth and last album to date is "March Fires", which was released on March 1, 2013.
Lanterns, their first top ten single in Australia, was released for digital download on January 14, 2013. The alternative rock song was recorded by Birds Of Tokyo throughout the year 2012 and it was written by Adam Spark, Ian Barney, Glenn Sarangapany, Adam Weston and Ian Kenny. It has a moderate length of 3:56 minutes and Dave Cooley produced it.
Lanterns is part of the EMI label and it is the band's greatest achievement so far. After its release, along with their other single "This Fire", the album debuted at number one on the National ARIA Album Chart. In only four weeks, it was certified gold in Australia while Lanterns became the single with the most airplay received from the radio station in the first half of 2013.
In the same year, the single was featured on the television series "Revenge".
The song reached number three on the ARIA Singles Chart and it topped the Australian Singles Chart for nine weeks.
In February 2013, the video for Lanterns was released. Josh Logue directed it and the scenes were filmed in Sydney.
The single received two nominations at the ARIA Music Awards, one for "Song Of The Year" and another one for "Best Video".
It sold more than 200 000 copies in Australia, where it was certified triple platinum. The song also reached number 11 on Billboard's "US Adult Alternative Songs".
Lanterns stood not just as a great song to be enjoyed but also as Birds Of Tokyo's breakthrough.
The free Lanterns piano sheet music can be downloaded below. Enjoy!
