N.B. Lyrics are in
bold
Interpol, worldwide enforcement of the law, if you kill someone in the UK, flee to Japan then the USA, they’ll get you. But now, now there’s a new kid on the block. The band, Interpol consist of Paul Banks (lead vocals, guitar,)
Daniel Kessler (guitar, vocals) Carlos D.(bass) Sam Fogarino (drums). Their music is a difficult beast to generalize, I would call them indie-pop but many would disagree, so I’ll stick with Indie.
Now I’ll hold my hands up here, I’m not really an “Indie man.” I prefer bands like Muse, Radiohead and Green Day amongst many others. I was; however, brave enough to pick this up on the premise of 2 songs. I have to say one thing that will get me set upon by many Interpol fans, I really like this, more than Turn on the Bright Lights, and if you could be so kind as to kick back, relax, and laugh at Interpol fans choking on their tongue, I’ll tell you why.
When I bought this, I had heard
Slow Hands for the first time, it was, and still is, a good song. The lyrics were quite good with Paul Banks mourning a lost love. In the lyrics however, there is a spot of venom
“can’t you see what you’ve done to my heart and soul?” this dark, venomous lyrical them encapsulates a great deal of the album, some songs more than others. Take first single
Evil. The song on its first listen seems to be about a girl Later however, you discover this is a lot darker than it seems. It reminds me of an obsessed lover who has killed his wife and looking back, knows that he should have resolved the situation another way
“Rosemary, heaven restores you in life. I spent a lifespan with no cellmate” this is the man thinking that he can’t be trusted to have company. The lyrics are decidedly dark, which is a good thing. The even crazier thing is if you listen to it a certain way, you can grab the idea of a concept in this album, albeit a very loose one. But I’ll come back to this idea at the end of the review
Daniel Kessler comes up with some really good guitar parts, they’re not overly complex but they grab your attention.
Public Pervert has a guitar riff that is deliciously simple but grabs your attention just enough to be amazed at it’s simplicity.
C’mere’s guitar riff on the other hand, is an in your face one. it has no intention of being subtle or simple. Yet it doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb, it blends into the background rather well. The real story with the guitar riffs is that it’s not something that you need to spent years on a guitar to get one section perfected. It’s beauty lies within its simplicity, if it were to be loud, in your face and full of big, meaty, chunky riffs, you would quite frankly, be a bit pissed off.
The bass in this album is deceptively simple, yet it’s catchy. The intro riff to the song
Evil is one that is NOT going anywhere in the near future if it’s heard. If you want to hear inventive bass riffs, this’ll be a bit of a disappointment. Carlos is an audible bassist, but he doesn’t do anything in particular that will make you think “Wow, this is really amazing”. He’s not trying to be a really inventive bassist either; he’s just there, in the background. The drumming isn’t something that you’ll be screaming in amazement while doing cartwheels about. Just some basic drum beats except for a few exceptions.
Take you on a Cruise has a really nice drum beat, it isn’t mind-bendingly complex, nor it particularly spectacular, but it just fits into the mood of the song really well. Apart from that though, the rhythm section is no great shakes.
As I mentioned earlier, this album, to me at least, has a story in its lyrics. The story is of a man, who has made a few mistakes in his life like all of us. The story begins with Next exit, where the man tells his soon to be wife that there is something they need to do in the city
“Make it with me in preparation for tonight We've got so much to leave” this is where the man make his plans to kill his fiancé, with the repetition of No End serving as an insight into the thoughts of the man.
Evil and Narc deal with the man’s time in prison and his release, while in prison, the man meets an old friend, the old friend offers to help the man escape from his “lifetime with no cellmate” by getting someone to soften the jury with tales of cruelty, hence the line
“it’s a sentimental jury and the makings of a good plan.”
In Narc, the man meets a prostitute soon after his release,
” Touch your thighs, I'm the lonely one. Remember that lass, because that was the right one” this soon develops into a new relationship.
“Promises, we'll make some, Will reveal our sense of right. You should be in my space. You should be in my life”
The next two tracks, Take You on a Cruise and Slow Hands provide an insight to the man’s mind at this point. He’s growing tired to the new girl’s (I’ll call her Kerri) resistance against his advances
“I see that you've come to resist me.” Eventually, Kerri gives in to his advances and the man is happy. Until he discovers that Kerri has had an affair, the man is absolutely heartbroken
“Can't you see what you've done to my heart, and soul? This is a wasteland now” regardless of this, he stays with her, simply because he is still wildly in love with her
“But I am married to your charms & grace. I just go crazy like the good old days. You make me want to pick up a guitar, and celebrate the myriad ways that I love you”
After this, the man is told to come back to court for a re-sentencing. This is displayed in Not Even Jail, where the man promises that the love he feels for Kerri is so strong, that even being in jail could not diminish it. He also promises that no matter what, he never hurt her in any way
“I promise to commit no acts of violence. Be it physical or otherwise.” The man is then cleared of all charges, yet he is forced into a dilemma, during the session in court, he had been with someone else. This dilemma is posed in Public Pervert, where the man is wondering if Kerri can be trusted, he decides that the new girl (I’ll call her Liane) is the one. Simply because he knows that Kerri had an affair, he’s also aware that he no longer loves her as much, yet he’s insure if he knows, or ever knew how to love
“If time is a vessel, then learning to love might be my way back to sea”
C’mere deals with the man telling Kerri that he wants Liane, not her; Kerri is in tears, screaming at him about how he promised his love would never fade. He tells Kerri that
“The trouble is that you're in love with someone else.” Kerri then runs far away. In the song Length of Love, the man then discovers that Liane was only using him. The line
“shifting the heartache” is a look at the tables being turned on the man; he had discarded Kerri only to be discarded himself. Final track a Time to be so Small is a look at how the man has lost everything he tried so hard to get. The lyrics speak of
“the bubble of your interests ready to burst,” this is where the man knows that he’s thrown everything he had that was good away, all for nothing. The last noted lyrics of the album are
“When the cadaverous mob, saves its doors for the dead men. You cannot leave” this is where the man finally decides that his only option is to leave the life he had wasted, he can’t however, as the doors are saved for the dead. The man then decides that suicide is his only option, the man kills himself and the album closes with Paul muttering some words behind the elegiac music
So, is the album a good buy? Well, if you like music that has meaning in it, yes. If you want some really powerful vocals, yes. I’d tell anyone I know to get this, as it’s an amazing album that fully merits it’s
4.5/5
now i have 2
