Turn On The Bright Lights - Interpol > Reviews > The Bright Lights Are On.

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Mixed
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Hypnotic, luscious voice with interesting lyrical content .
Disadvantages:	Final tracks are somewhat disappointing .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Interpol are a neat little discovery; their music has a haunting quality about it, and the lyrics create an atmosphere of mystery and discovery. From the opening track, 'Untitled', you get an idea of the sound of this band, though it is basically an introductional piece, rather than a song in its own right. The CD is relaxing to listen to in places, such as 'NYC', and is generally enjoyable, though I do find myself skipping tracks depending on my mood. This is a group with some average, tolerable songs forming the back drop to some fantastic musical gemstones. One of these being PDA, a glorious song that boasts lyrics such as 'Yours is the only version of my desertion that i could ever subscribe to'.

Interpol have some very rocky tracks that I love, but they can carry off slow and sweet with style also. 'Hands Away' is slow, with sweet sounds, creating a relaxing and melodic mood. The vocals are very soothing on this song, and the tempo and pace gradually moves up then slows back down as the song progresses. 'Stella was a diver and she was always down' is another example of this side of Interpol; the song is sweet yet chilling, and again, his voice is lovely here.

I love the song 'Say hello to the Angels' as it has a very upbeat, dancy rhythm to it. The use of repetition in this song makes it catchy, and the way the singer bursts into song, with difficult to deciepher lyrics, and then contrasts this with clearly spoken words keeps the song interesting and varied. Bouncy would be a good word to describe this song, as it makes me want to sing along, and maybe even spin around in circles.

This album is not perfect; 'Roland' isn't my favourite, as if I'm in an impatient mood i'll pass this. The intro is not as griping as other songs, though I kind of like the very fast talking of this song, though itshardtoguesswhatheissaying. Not bad, but not the best. 'New' has a nice opening, not particularly special but nice. A slow song, one of those backgroundy tracks that don't particularly grip me, as this one is a tad dull' Again, with Lief Erikson is another slow track, more crisp than the previous song, and it is ok, but again, it's not as special as others. It has the Interpol feel, but doesn't leave me feeling enthralled. It is different to 'Untitled', yet I feel it's purpose is to close off the CD in a gentle way, rather than going out with a bang, leaving the listener eager for more.

A highlight would be Obstacle One; it just hypnotises me from the opening sounds, pulling on my mind strings. The opening lyrics are quite unusually sentimental; I find with Interpol that a feature of their lyrics are notitions that are romantic yet strange; 'I wish I could eat the salt off of your soft faded lips'. I like the way this band expresses itself; the lyrics may be slightly odd, but they come across as fresh and new interpretations of love and life, such as the affectionate, almost simple observation 'It's in the way that she poses, it's in the things that she puts in my hair' , which sounds very tender. Obstacle 2 comes across as a well-written track, and I like how this one goes straight into the song,'I'm gona pull you in close, gona wrap you up tight, gona play with the braids that you came here with tonight' and how the clear vocals pave the way for the guitars.

In the words of a friend, who I forced Interpol upon, 'they are able to have long songs without them seeming long, which is always good'. The vocals are often introspective and hypnotic, and the musical quality is relatively conistant, though the last few tracks let the album down in my opinion.