Interpol - 'Antics' (Matador)
5/5
By: Toby L
Reportedly close to a nervous breakdown, recent press believed, was singer Paul Banks of Interpol during the making of the NYC foursome's second LP, 'Antics' - the sophomore effort to their mesmerising entrance, 'Turn On The Bright Lights'.
You can see why. 2000's 'Bright Lights' was a revelatory escape; chilling keyboards nestled with forthright, sinister bass-lines and Banks' distinct yell - a call-to-arms for the fashionistas: proof that music could be credible, expressive and slick, at once. It's most certainly one of the albums of the decade.
Imagine following it.
And, of 'Antics'? Superiority. A continued ascent from the dark lords of reflective, eerie posture. It exudes the epic, emotive intrigue that littered the debut, and builds upon it, with arrangements and yearning melody that confound and entice. From the understated entrance of 'Next Exit', to the almost-terrifying 'Length Of Love' (whose psychotic guitar refrain doesn't once cease throughout its four minutes) and the closing slump of 'A Time To Be So Small', Interpol's second is a real journey.
Likewise, it's the bearer of their most accessible compositions thus far - anyone within the vaguest of orbits to the likes of 'Slow Hands' and 'NARC' would testify, the former a club-hopping classic, the latter a true work of ingenuity: 'You should be in my space,' harps Banks in a demeanour Bowie would shudder in bleak resentment at, amidst a blanketing ovation of spiralling guitars and truly ecstatic, near-theatrical performance.
Then there's the rest; oh, the rest - the doting, yet unsettling, comfort of 'Evil', quite, quite beautiful escapism of 'Take You On A Cruise' (an unquestionable, furrowing highlight), the Gothic/Strokes-y 'Not Even Jail', and who could fail to swoon at the vulnerability of 'C'mere', Banks proclaiming coyly, 'Oh... how I love you,' to a calming, late-night backdrop.
Sensitive, intense, 'Antics' showcases a band with an unrelenting, frivolous pulse, a bleeding, ferocious heart, and an agenda to seduce. The world is theirs; if they want it.
Artists in this article: Interpol
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