Labels: Matador
Review by: Andy Malcolm
I have been buying some random shit and old things (Robert Johnson = fucking awesome!) lately. This is one of the random things. I am not sure why I am just buying stuff at random, but it’s quite fun to listen to something that you have no pre-conceived notion of how it’s going to sound or should sound or whether you are allowed to like it. The only pre-conception I had of this band was that I have a vague recollection that Greg who does Level Plane records used to be in them?! Or something. I am pretty sure that’s what (name drop) someone from Hot Cross told me in Germany. Though I might have been drunk. And they could have been kidding. Anyway, Interpol do two long songs here, influenced by UK indie of the last 20 years. Bit of a Joy Division thing going on, and very English sounding vocals! “PDA” is a great track, lots of repetitious guitars but it never gets boring. Kind of shoegazey too in places, it’s a very dynamic track and I like it a lot. The other track, “Specialist”, is almost 7 minutes long and I couldn’t really get into it. A bit boring to be honest!
Worth checking out if you are into British indie music before it became music for 30 year old married couples who like Travis and Coldplay and going to gardening and DIY stores on Saturdays. I enjoyed it simply for the “PDA” track. Cool!