Antics: in retrospect

There aren’t many rock albums in the past decade which have been as darkly unique and memorable as Antics, the second release from New York based foursome Interpol. When Interpol are discussed nowadays, it is more in the context of what could have been, as their third and fourth releases flattered to deceive. However I would argue that this is not because they are actually poor records, but rather testament to the quality of Antics and 2002 debut Turn On The Bright Lights which set the bar so high that it was always going to be difficult to reach those same heights. And so it proved after the disappointment of their self-titled fourth album, as the band have been on hiatus since 2011 “to pursue separate projects”, according to drummer Sam Fogarino.

Antics opens as it means to go on with the typically melancholic ‘Next Exit’, on which lead singer Paul Banks croons “we’re gonna trek this shit around...we ain’t going to the town, we’re going to the city,” perhaps a reflection on the band themselves as they try to ‘make it big’. ‘Evil’, the second single from the record and an undisputed masterpiece of a song, is rumoured to beabout serial killer Rosemary West, who was convicted of 10 murders in 1995. This understandably fails to lift the gloom and doom surrounding the album, even through the slightly more uplifting ‘Take You On A Cruise’, which is carried along by Carlos Dengler’s thunderous bassline. The star of the album though is ‘Slow Hands’, a song recently covered by Azealia Banks (of all people). The high tempo and echoed guitars serve up an absolute treat of a song as Paul Banks’s smooth baritone voice just about manages to make itself heard over the din. This is followed up by the more bombastic ‘Not Even Jail’ which builds itself up to a frenzied chorus and the brilliantly named ‘Public Pervert’ in which the concluding breakdown really is something to savour. ‘C’mere’, the third single from the album, could possibly be described as the most upbeat song out of all of them (although this isn’t saying much) as Paul Banks abandons his Ian Curtis-like vocals for something more romantic. After all this is a song about unrequited love; “The trouble is that you’re in love with someone else.” Antics has an underlying nautical theme shown by ‘Take You On A Cruise’ and the lyrics of the final song ‘A Time To Be So Small’, on which guitarist Daniel Kessler exhibits all of his talents to bring the album to an epic conclusion, as his guitar chops and chimes in typical Interpol fashion.

Antics featured on many reviewers’ list of the top 50 albums of 2004 but has always slightly stood in the shadow of its more illustrious predecessor Turn On The Bright Lights. It is a well known fact that the second album is often the most difficult for bands such as Interpol, and in my opinion they did a fine job of it. With the albums that followed however, it seems that Interpol became a victim of their own success.