Interpol, Turn on the Bright Lights, 2002

Friday Flashback Mini Review

Matador just announced a special Tenth Anniversary Edition of Interpol's debut LP, Turn on the Bright Lights.  I listened to that record almost non-stop following its 2002 release.  Interpol were New York indie darlings back then and even ended up beating out Wilco for the top spot on Pitchfork's 2002 year-end list.  I hadn't listened to Turn on the Bright Lights in a while, so I decided to put it on today and put down some quick thoughts.

There are some strange lyrics on Turn on the Bright Lights.  "NYC" includes the line "The subway, she is a porno.  The pavements, they are a mess."  We get "Sleep tight, grim rite, we have 200 couches where you can...  Sleep tight," etc. on "PDA."  One of my favorite lines opens "Obstacle 2:"  "I'm gonna pull you in close.  Gonna wrap you up tight.  Gonna play with the braids that you came here with tonight."  Those lyrics, though, are part of the whole feel of the album.  There's a distance, a coolness that allows the listener to just go with it when Paul Banks is at his most indecipherable.

Carlos D's pummeling bass, Daniel Kessler's post-punk riffs, and Paul Banks's voice and delivery drew lots of comparisons to Joy Division at the time; but, to me, the sound of Turn on the Bright Lights, while somewhat revivalist, sits firmly in early aughts New York.  Just beneath the exterior of steely calmness and cool lie the emotions of pain and loss, ready to break through at any moment.

Rock on...