There\u2019s a timeless factor about Turn On the Bright Lights, Interpol\u2018s seminal first album, which makes it fantastic to think it just passed its 10-year anniversary. Bright Lights is as fresh as the day it appeared, an ageless wonder of sound and meaning.<\/p>\n
The same cannot be said about the band which made it, as Interpol\u2019s subsequent albums lessened in pertinence, coming to a crushing thud with 2010\u2032s self-titled mess. It is with some optimism then that lead singer Paul Banks (he of moody baritone and dour lyrics) rises from the muddle with his own self-titled release which, while showing some age, provides several songs of lasting relevance.<\/p>\n
This is not Banks\u2019 first solo rodeo, as 2009\u2032s effort under the pen name Julian Plenti proved he had some independent chops. But Banks trumps Plenti with its surprising variations \u2014 experimental instrumentals aside gentle choruses, dance beats amid acoustic strums \u2014 while adding a pair of Interpol-like tunes which harken the band\u2019s hardier days.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Base\u201d sets the pace from the outset \u2014 Banks\u2019 reliable monotone meanders through a background of simple percussion and lilting guitar before giving way to a disco-space groove near song\u2019s end. Unexpected, never boring. \u201cOver My Shoulder\u201d is more straightforward, the drums reminiscent of Sam Fogarino\u2019s cadence, but Banks\u2019 voice soars in an unusual manner. \u201cArise, Awake\u201d has Banks in a playful mood, strings and frantic electronic beats over taped material underneath. Weird, and a little bit of wonderful.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll Sue You\u201d and \u201cSummertime Is Coming\u201d satisfy that Interpol urge missing since 2007\u2032s Our Love to Admire, but \u201cAnother Chance\u201d goes way off the reservation with a spoken-word, early Cure meets early M83 amalgamation with lyrics to validate its oddness. \u201cI have a neurological condition, don\u2019t you get that?\/ There\u2019s something wrong with my brain.\u201d I hate to admit how much I like it.<\/p>\n
I am an unabashed Interpol fan who believes Carlos D\u2019s departure took away the band\u2019s mojo, but Banks shows a swagger remains in its lead singer. Whether or not he chooses to bring his brio back to the band is uncertain, but it\u2019s encouraging to know he can summon it with promising results.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There\u2019s a timeless factor about Turn On the Bright Lights, Interpol\u2018s seminal first album, which makes it fantastic to think it just passed its 10-year anniversary. Bright Lights is as fresh as the day it appeared, an ageless wonder of sound and meaning. The same cannot be said about the band which made it, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[92,418],"class_list":["post-1394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-interpol","tag-paul-banks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1394"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1397,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1394\/revisions\/1397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}