Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights (2002)

• Paul Banks - vocals, guitar
• Daniel Kessler - lead guitar
• Sam Fogarino - drums
• Carlos Dengler - bass guitar, keyboards

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures (1979)

• Ian Curtis – vocals, guitar
• Bernard Sumner – guitar, keyboards, vocals
• Peter Hook – bass guitar, vocals
• Stephen Morris – drums, percussion

I'm expecting some nice music from Interpol. musically, their sound is talked of as a bass -driven, sparse, post-punk sound, immediately reminding the listener of Joy Division. Paul Banks even draws comparisons with the great Ian Curtis. I've become a dedicated fan of Ian and his short-lived band of late. Unknown Pleasures has been on repeat in my Winamp for most of the past week . so what is so special about them, you will ask. nothing. their very lack of over the top rockstar showmanship, coupled with an quite unbelievable intensity in their playing is what marks them out.
Ian's voice is always cool and detached, even when he sings of grey skies, rain, isolation, disorder and torment tearing him apart from within. he sounds almost possessed, lost in a cultivated, dark orbit of his own.
There is a certain urgency in the sound, emphasised by the primary role the bass often plays in their songs. Ian, of course, died young, fulfilling most of the prerequisite ideals demanded of the worshipped rockstar. he killed himself when he was only 23. Joy Division is, admittedly, no band of anthemic stadium rockers. their music is bleak, but never monochromatically so, like, say, Nick Drake. there always is an understated punk love of dark freedom and anarchy, led by Ian's silently commanding, mesmeric baritone.
The cover of Unknown Pleasures depicts a spectrum reading radiated by a distant pulsar, and represents the last moments of a dying star. lets hope Interpol, one more band of New Yorkers essentially British in worldview and aesthetic outlook, live up to all the hype.





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