But hey whose on trial?
I've now listened to Antics nearly 10 times in its entirety since I obtained it yesterday and here are my feelings on it. At this point I think it is the perfect follow up to Turn on the Bright Lights. If Turn on the Bright Lights is a dark shade of gray I would say that Antics is still gray but a bit lighter. There is a little more hope here. A little more maturity in the musical expression. In no way have they went to a more pop sound. The album is possibly a bit more accessible on a whole. It is hard for me to be objective on this in that I am so familiar and in tune with Interpol's sound that it seems very accessible to me at this point.
When I first put the disc in driving back from lunch I was singing along as loud as I could not even knowing any of the words. I don't know of many albums I have done that too. Yesterday I felt track #6 "Not Even Jail" might be one of the weakest tracks on the album, today I know think it is one of the stronger tracks. I think that says a lot about the quality of the album as a whole.
I have tried to analyze what is I have liked so much about Interpol over the last 2 years. I think it is their emotional expression is very close to the way I often feel or the way I want to feel. I would say it is kind of an understated and sophisticated sound. At times dark and brooding with flashes of brilliance and light. The sound is often clean. Paul Banks' voice is very soothing to me. He does have an uncanny resemblance to the voice of Ian Curtis yet I find Paul Banks to have a more smooth an pleasing voice. The lyrics are often cryptic yet have subtle and familiar meanings to me.
I almost feel bad and get frustrated at times when talking about how much I like Interpol because the music is so personal to me. I am trying to get over that. I also feel selfish in a way and don't want to share this music with anyone or only certain people. That is probably silly but that just shows how strongly I feel about this music. Overall, I am very happy with this follow up. I was worried that Antics would not be up to the same quality as Turn on the Bright Lights but so far I feel it is at least close to the same quality. I am confident this disc will stay hot on my rotation for some time to come. Turn on the Bright Lights still gets frequent plays even after 2 years.