I picked up this album about 6 months with a world of expectations. Now, at the time, I had Interpol's Turn On The Bright Lights, but I hadn't listend to it. After hearing Evil though, I was prepared for the best. I must say Antics didn't impress me. So I gave TotBL another shot and fell in love. After I found this new appreciation for Interpol's indie-dark sound, I thought I'd give Antics another go. The result was: I was still disappointed. Following their positively brilliant debut LP, New York City's Interpol had the critics and fans buzzing about them. One word was on everyone's mind when that piece of genius came out. Melancholy. Interpol denies being a goth band, so they, like so many bands out there rushed out a second album, Antics. Geared more toward MTV, Antics sounds like Interpol trying to reach a much wider fanbase. It's far more calculated and much less dark. The result if a disappointing sophmore effort, one which would disappoint diehards and grab many more Coldplay-Lovers for the sea-obsessed Interpol.
Now Antics is not necessarily a bad album. There are several tracks on here that garner fabulous ratings.
Evil for example, is genius. Carlos puts down a sweet bassline, and Paul soflty sings his crisp "Rosemary...Heaven restores you in light" and the mood is really set. Sam comes in with a spasmodic drum beat, and the verses kick in. After some brilliant spits, the guitar enters for some "Hey Hey's!" All is soft for Paul's "But Hey Who's On Trial?" sigh, and the stage is set for the chorus. In a melancholy explosion, Paul's pleas for peace come in over some paranoia-inducing guitar. The second verse features Daniel Kessler at his pop-finest with some sliding guitar. Evil, Interpol's biggest hit ever, is terrifically engineered for MTV, though in the minds of some fans, that's not a good thing. Nevertheless, Evil is undoubtedly some of Interpol's finest work. But the fun doesnt stop there.
Take You On A Cruise is Inteprol at it's finest. Starting in outerspace, this number's instumentality is something sorely lacking throughout the rest of the album. Excellent basswork by Carlos, and Daniel's riding guitar is never better. Sam's drums are something to be commended, sufficiently holding on to the aura of mystery. Paul's harmonized croons are something new for Interpol. In the bridge though, all is wonderful. Paul jumps into the upper half of his range with the predatory howl "I am the Scavenger". Behind that is some maddening harmonies, something that was so brilliantly executed on TotBL. The song does overstay it's welcome, much like PDA with about 2 minutes easily skipped, but it's overlookable when you concentrate on that marvelous bridge. These two tracks are definitely the highlights of the album. Classic Interpol.
The problem with this album, like so many sophmore efforts, is consistency. From front to back, there's a few marvelous pieces of artwork, but mostly typical Interpol numbers. By comparison, Antics pales when looking at the sheer madness of TotBL. Starting with the bland and uninteresting
Next Exit, you immediately know Antics is going to be nothing near that fantastic debut. Next Exit is a pointless choice for an opener, with Paul crooning gently "We Ain't Goin To The Town/We're Going To The City/Gonna trek this *** around/And make this place a heart". Wait... did Interpol just curse? Yes they did. Why one might ask? No Idea. It's merely thrown in there for no apparent reason, possibly to garner Interpol a little street cred. Sam puts a nice beat behind absolutely nothing, which is disappointing when in TotBL's Untitled, everyone did marvelous work in that dark, enigmatic piece. On Next Exit though, you are served garbage. Thankfully, Next Exit is the only terrible song. The others are all just relegated to mediocrity.
When looking at the back of the CD cover, one may notice many oddly titled tracks. I mean
Public Pervert? Come on! This from a band who was so unsure of their titles, they named songs... well Untitled. Well before you throw these songs in the can for their ridiculous titles, give thema spin or two to see if you like them. Public Pervert is a good example of this. In fact when you summarize Public Pervert, you truly are summarizing most of the album. It has a strange title, some ocean obsessed lyrics (which at this point really just piss me off), and an oblique iciness that tends to lean to the side of scary. Sounding like the marvelous Stella Was a Diver and She was Always Down in the chorus, Pervert gets the job done by lack of work behind Paul's questioning lyrics. When Paul hisses "Swoon Baby," you can almost feel some of that madness lost between the debut and here. Pervert's got a wonderful guitar solo and a nice breakdown, still similar to Stella, only this time instead of lasting for 4 minutes, Pervert's is cut down to a fan friendly 3 minutes. Many songs follow this style, from the apocolyptic
Narc to the boring single
C'mere. But in all this, one track stands out, just for being so different. But despite what the storybooks say, different isn't always good.
Slow Hands is Interpol's most rocking track ever. Starting with a catchy guitar riff, Slow Hands sounds a bit promising. But the vocals are so old and commonplace among Interpol's greatest pieces, that it's easily skippable. A song about spies, Slow Hands is the code name for an agency of spies. It's a nice choice for a single when you want to highlight your fun side, but it's wholly unrepresentable of what Interpol is. On top of all that, it clocks in at a mere 3 minutes! And this from a band who's three previous singles all had to be cut short for they were too long! This is disappointing work from Interpol.
In terms of songwriting, Antics is nowhere close to catching the aura of Turn On The Bright Lights. When on TotBL, songs could go for 6 or 7 minutes and maintain a high level of interest, Interpol seems so scared of losing it's fans with drawn out songs, they wrote songs in a radio friendly length. The aforementioned Slow Hands struggles to make it past 3 minutes! For a band once fearless enough to beat out songs for such a longer time, this is a vast disappointment. Also, Paul's singing is vastly different for the worse here. His flat vocals are almost annoying and repetetive when compared to the varied vocal work and magnificent insanity-mongering melodies on Bright Lights. On that album, I could sit and listen to Paul go for hours, when on this, not so much. I merely skip a whole bunch of tracks that don't have much to do with anything. Another thing I noticed is how strikingly the song order mimics that of Bright Lights. It begins with a soft opener, then the albums best single. This is followed by an airy howler, then a track too drawn out for it's own good. Then there's the rocking track. The first five tracks are very similar to TotBL's first 5. The rest of the numbers follow that same pattern if you skip Bright Lights' Interlude track "Hands Away." All of these added up together make for an annoying listen, one that keeps diehards thinking "This is pretty much the same album, only worse."
Musically, there's not a damn thing to complain about. Everyone's work is top-notch. In fact, the work by Carlos and Sam are much better than their liimted efforts on the debut. Sam's beats are consistently jumping around, but are always in time. I think Sam is one of the underrated drummers in his genre. A charismatic guy in comparison to the rest of the band, Sam's always good for a laugh, and his percussion really keep the album a little diversified. The same can be said for Carlos. His basslines are consistently greater on Antics. I mean look at Evil! It's by no means difficult, but it's catchy as hell and really got that single where it is today. On Take You On A Cruise, his bass is fantastic, staying in the upper reaches for a paranormal effect. And Kessler's guitar solos aren't as crazy as on Bright Lights, but they do show signs of greatness on tracks like Public Pervert and Not Even Jail. It's a shame the songs they played to were so bland. This could have been just as good as TotBL, if not for some disappointing vocals and same-sounding songs.
OVERALL
Antics is nowhere near the brilliance acheived by Turn On The Bright Lights. It is indeed a disappointment for those who were expecting another magnificent piece of work. However, disappointing does not mean bad. It's about 60-40 when lining up the good tracks from the mediocre-bad ones. The effort is there, that can't be denied, and the instruments are just as good as the debut. But if you want true Interpol, stick with Turn On The Bright Lights.
Recommended Tracks
Evil
Take You On A Cruise
Public Pervert
Pros:
A few great tracks
More to the poppy side of things
Great Instrumental Work All wround.
Cons:
Next Exit
Paul's voice begins to get annoying
Some bland skip tracks
A vastly disappointing sophomore effort from a band with so much potential
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