Most bands never achieve greatness – let alone perfection. In 2002, dark, dapper and determined, Interpol arrived. And they arrived fully-formed.
So many tight-jeaned troubadors rode the mighty heights of new wave in the wake of The Strokes., before falling into irrelevance and obscurity. Above all of this furore, one band stood alone. Before inspiring wave after wave of imitators, Interpol posed the infectiously sinister side of the revival. Unlike the majority of their peers and successors, they had the substance to match their style. And therein lies the secret to their longevity, and why in 2012 we’re still celebrating the immaculate Turn On The Bright Lights.
From the subtle melodrama of ‘Untitled’ and the wild-eyed ambition of ‘Say Hello To The Angels’ to the tender mourning of ‘The New’, the songcraftsmanship on Turn On The Bright Lights is loaded with feeling, confidence and intent. Paul Banks’ wry wit and brooding tones sit in perfect juxtaposition to Dan Kessler’s cool and breezy but angular guitar chops and Carlos Dengler’s wandering and playful bass in a harmony not heard since The Smiths. In short, Bright Lights is Interpol at their best.
Listening to the pounding ‘PDA’ and the twisted pop majesty of ‘Obstacle 1’ on the re-issue, the re-mastered tracks have a suitably subtle added gloss and punch, but the additional material would only appeal to hardcore Interpol fans.
It’s great to have the initial sketches and demos of what would evolve into such a monolithic body of work – not to mention the gorgeous warmth of their Peel Session. Baffling b-sides ‘The Specialist’ and ‘Song Seven’ lurk in the shadows as two the band’s finest songs while the frenetic fury of ‘Get The Girls’ and the debauched misery of ‘Gavilan’ are like the Primordial Soup from which these gothic godfathers would later step.
It really is no wonder that TOTBL ranked so highly in so many of the music press’s ‘best of’ lists for not only 2002 – but the decade. Bar a few hammy lyrics, it’s a fairly flawless listen from start to finish. It’s an ESSENTIAL album. While their subsequent albums have been largely hit or miss, you can’t deny them their standing as having produced one of the finest albums of a generation. We’re still talking about it today, and we’ll talk about it for another 10 years.
