album #19

turn on the bright lights (interpol)

One of the classic mid-aughts New York albums. This is a dark album, minor key. This band got compared a lot to Joy Division in their day, and I used to agree with that- the downcast post-punk vibe, the similarly deep, dark, semispoken vocals- but it's really a much more produced, polished, dense sound than Joy Division; not nearly so sparse or desolate. I like the jagged guitars, the air. It's not one of my favorite albums, but there's a lot of good stuff going on.

Some beauties- the melancholy floating dream of "Untitled"; "Hands Away," a track that really does some beautiful stuff in its space, there's a subtle vibrant melodic coalescence there that I never fully appreciated until just now; the magnificently dark, jaggedly bombastic bacchanal strut of "Obstacle 2" (inane lyrics and all, my favorite song from the album); the glowering meditation of "Stella Was A Diver…"; and another song I'd count as my album favorite, or second place at least, is "PDA"- there's an energy to it, an upbeat sensation of chasing after life that the rest of the album, in a darker place, doesn't quite match. Of course the lyrics, about sleep and couches, don't match my impression of 'chasing after life,' but the guitars and the vocal cadence does it, and that's enough for me. Also I remember driving with a girl I liked as we kinda danced in the car seats to this song, so it's always going to sound like life to me.