Interpol – Antics

The Band You Hate to Love

Sometimes you can’t help what bands you like. You can be made fun for liking some of the music that you do; your guilty pleasures. Such is the case with the band Interpol. Interpol’s second album Antics is as good as cheesy Emo gets. Emo usually comes with the preconceived notion that the music is going to be whiny and mushy, making it a genre no one wants to be associated with. But with lead singer Paul Bank’s vocals sounding somewhere between Michael Stipe of REM and Julian Casablancas of the Strokes, and instrumentals sounding somewhere between the New Wave of Joy Division and Bauhaus and the ambient rock of Mogwai, what’s not to like? It’s noisy, feedback radio rock at its best; just Emo enough to be a coffee shop band, but not bad-ass enough to be a bar band. It’s perfect milieu music for doing homework or making out. There are repetitive drums in synch with equally repetitive and methodical guitar riffs, funky Ska bass lines, catchy poppy melodies and simple yet poetic lyrics. In the slow, sappy song “Public Pervert”, lines like “If time is my vessel, then learning to love might be my way back to sea” remind girls why they’re so fond of art school guys. The lyrics are wistful and lovelorn, while the music is funky and off-kilter; a perfect combination of tender and cool.

Antics is a very enjoyable album. The music is well written, well performed and well shaped. Bands like Interpol should give the world more incentive to listen to genres that generally seem to have less than desirable reputations.