Light On Dark Water

Interpol: “NYC”

I heard this song a couple of days ago as one of those semi-random occurrences when I've put a CD full of MP3 files in the car player, not entirely sure what's on it. I'd forgotten how much I like it.

This is by far my favorite song from the album, which is called Turn On the Bright Lights. It came out in 2002 and I think attracted a fair amount of attention. AllMusic gives it 5 stars (!). I'm afraid I can't concur with that rating, as I'm really not that enthusiastic about most of it. The band has put out more albums since then but I haven't heard any of them. Probably worth investigating.

Maclin Horton

10 responses to “Interpol: “NYC””

  1. Rob G

    I love that whole record from start to finish. It’s pretty much considered a “post punk revival” classic. To me the early 80’s vibe is irresistible. I think the biggest song from the record was “Obstacle 1.”
    I’ve listened to all their albums, and although they all have good tracks, in my opinion the other two that are the most solid are Our Love to Admire and El Pintor. Given that TOTBL doesn’t do much for you your take on the other ones might differ.

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  2. Mac

    I like “Obstacle 1” ok but my reaction to it is fairly typical of my reaction to most of the whole album: I like the sound but don’t think most of the songs are that good. I like the one with all the couches. 🙂 Can’t remember the name of it. “We have two hundred couches….”

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  3. Rob G

    Interesting, because to me it’s the strength of the songs that make it a good album. They remind me a lot of Joy Division, albeit with the volume turned up so to speak. And the albums of theirs that I don’t care for as much are the ones that to my mind lack the stronger songs.
    The ‘two hundred couches’ song is called “PDA”. Yeah, great track.
    An album you might like which has a similar feel but is slightly more melodic is “Nostalgia” by the Canadian band Spectres (not to be confused with the UK noise-rock band of the same name). It really does sound like some great lost LP from 1983.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPei1DbChiE

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  4. Mac

    Yeah, I like that more than most of the Interpol album. I would say a lot more melodic. Possibly more of those Interpol songs will grow on me, but I’ve heard it a couple of times over the past few weeks and it hasn’t happened. If I remember correctly, which I may not, JD’s first album is more straight rock than the second, and I’m more familiar with the second. Interpol is not remotely that gloomy!

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  5. Rob G

    With me and JD it’s the opposite — I’m much more familiar with the first record. Also, one of my favorite early 80’s bands is The Chameleons, and Interpol has cited them as an influence as well. They combined JD’s gloomy feel with big guitars (although they also managed to throw in the occasional bright spot sometimes).
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkGns3eCZw0

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  6. Mac

    Just now had a chance to listen to that. I like it. I’ve heard of them for years but never heard them. I’ve always liked that gloomy vocal style.
    Btw if you haven’t seen it there’s a pretty good Joy Division / Ian Curtis biopic called Control. (Maybe I’ve mentioned it before?) At least two thirds of it are good–I watched that much on Amazon and when I went back to see the rest it was gone. I had never seen Ian Curtis perform and after seeing the concert sequences in the movie I thought “surely his performance style can’t have been that weird.” But it was.
    Ah, I see you mentioned Control way back in 2017.
    https://www.lightondarkwater.com/2017/01/52-albums-week-3-waving-not-drowning.html

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  7. Rob G

    Hard to believe that it’s been five years since I watched ‘Control.’ There’s also a very good documentary on JD that features interviews with the surviving members. I think I watched it on Amazon Prime.
    That Rupert Hine song sounds a bit like some of Peter Gabriel’s stuff from the same period. Also, I remembered his connection to After the Fire and verified it on discogs: he produced their first single in 1979, One Rule For You, and also its B-side, Joy.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMGsJUNdkDQ
    Re: The Chameleons, here’s a brief but very interesting look at their influence and underground status:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlicv6rkUKA&t=342s
    I like this guy’s “channel” a lot, by the way. He covers a lot of intriguing stuff.

    Reply
  8. Mac

    After the Fire sounds nothing like Hine, but I can hear some touches in the arrangement that could, transposed into a totally different emotional key, be his.
    The video about The Chameleons is quite interesting. I definitely need to check them out further. I see that AMG gives them a lot of 4 or 4 1/2 star ratings. Not that I always agree with AMG, but a high rating is at least an indication of some level of quality.

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  9. Rob G

    Listened to the first Joy Division album straight through on a car trip over the weekend. It floors me that some people claim to not be able to hear its reflections on TOTBL.
    I also listened to Portishead – Third. I liked a lot of it but will have to give it another spin to be sure. It’s certainly interesting but I’m not sure it’s the kind of thing I’d listen to very often.

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  10. Mac

    Definitely not something I’ll listen to very often, either. It’s not casual listening at all. But when I do listen it will be attentively.
    I noticed, watching the creepy Netflix series Archive 81, that Geoff Barrow is one of the composers/sound designers credited with the creepy music.

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