Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights (2002)

Well, its been a little while since I've written about anything, partly because I've been busy bits and also I couldn't really decide on what to write about. So, I thought I'd browse for something in my older archives, and came across this. And this is something I thought I couldn't really put into words without giving it a few spins once again.

You'd agree with me too if you listen to this amazingly mesmerizing, haunting, beautiful and.. "bottomless" record. Yeah, "bottomless". Its not the layered guitars, or the organic, thumping bass or the droning baritone spewing out cryptic passages or the steady drums behind that could be held accountable for this. Its all of them coming together to create something much more than just a simple song or an album. As if they've hidden their "message", if they have one, under so many delicate layers full of twists, turns and drops that after a while you just give up trying to "find" the message and are just happy to go along with what they take you through..

Alright, even after listening to this album so many times, I still can't put it into words! I might as well get on with the rest of this entry. Interpol is a post-punk revival band from New York, and this is their first album, released in 2002 and Paul Banks (Guitars, Vocals), Carlos D (Bass), Daniel Kessler (Guitars), and Sam Fogarino (Drums) are responsible for this. They've released 3 albums after this, and though all of them are really good, each in its own right, this is my favorite of them all, just for the fact that this was the first Interpol album I had heard and took me totally off guard.

In the simplest sense, Interpol write what seem to simple, somewhat catchy rock songs, with a hint of melancholic gloom covering everything. The guitars range from simplistic strum chords to tremolo picked fills. Both the guitarists work on and with each other. "Obstacle One" is a perfect example of this, showcasing the "efficient" manner the guitars go about their job. The drums do the job of setting up the tempo and the intent of the songs, sometimes just holding back ("NYC", "Stell was a diver and she was always down") and other times going strong in a straight forward way ("PDA", "Obstacle One"). One peculiar thing about the drums is that there is very little variation in them in each song. Everything else seems to move around the drums which "hold the fort" so as to speak. And the bass playing on the entire album is just fantastic. Its just so subtle and smooth, flowing and always moving around. Carlos Dengler is one of my favorite bassists and theres a lot to be learnt from him. :-P

The lyrics are just amazing. That is. if you listen to them very carefully, you'll notice that they are mostly gibberish with some intelligible phrases thrown in. But when you take a step back and listen to them along with the music and the emotions Paul Banks puts in along with his vocal delivery, you start to realize that they just might make some sense, albeit in whatever manner you see fit. And his voice is also something that is captivating in a gloomy, morose sort of way.

Well, thats the best I can do to describe this masterpiece of an album by a very awesome band. You have to listen to it now and take your shot at solving this cryptic crossword :-)

P.S. The bass on "The New" is simply awesome! :-)

Download it.

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