The USA’s enthusiasm for goth (as opposed to Gothic – which has long been a crucial part of their folk and country traditions) has always been oddly out-of-time. Middle America only ‘got’ Depeche Mode after Dave Gahan got leather trousers, tatts and a smack habit. Then, after it had shrunk to provincial pockets of fandom in the UK, American yoof took to goth with a vengeance, via NIN, Marilyn Manson and on to today’s countless emo- and goth-metal hybrid bands. For quite some time now, the US has been selling goth back to us (shipping kohl to Newcastle, you could say) and we seem to be loving it.
Interpol’s 2002 debut, ‘Turn On The Bright Lights’ was a prime example of what Americans used to call ‘darkwave’, albeit updated via college rock. An alluringly saturnine, self-consciously literate affair affecting rock’s swagger, it was a composite of The Cure, The Smiths, Joy Division, The Chameleons and Echo And The Bunnymen and so went down a treat here. It was a second serving of the same – albeit more expansive and considered – for 2004’s ‘Antics’ and now ‘Our Love To Admire’, their ‘difficult third album’ and major-label debut. It opens with the ringing guitar coda of ‘Pioneer To The Falls’, which is clear as Waterford crystal, but anxious, post-punk clanging and clamour often edge out the Marr-like chiming. This is especially obvious on the staccato ‘Who Do You Think?’, dramatic lead single, ‘The Heinrich Maneuver’ and ‘No I In Threesome’ which, despite that cringeworthy title, has an irresistible, cliff-top grandeur. Elsewhere, ‘Rest My Chemistry’ recalls a tipsy Pixies, ‘Pace Is The Trick’ is a stadium-friendly homage to John Squire and luminous closer ‘The Lighthouse’ suggests a spaghetti western Radiohead. With the increasingly comic Killers disappearing up Brandon Flowers’ fundament, Interpol now have the chance to step into the spotlight on some seriously big stages. Not only have they failed to fall at the third hurdle, they’ve not even stumbled.
