Interesting Hot Half Fact About Interpol:
- Interpol makes me feel extraordinarily hip. For me, Interpol is the only American band that makes me feel like taking suggestive black and white pictures, dress all in monochrome, chain smoke menthol cigarettes, and wear ridiculously large sunglasses. Usually, only French music makes me feel that way.
What I'm getting at is that Interpol makes me feel like a hipster.
And I'm okay with that.
Sure, I scoffed at the band for being "Joy Division Redux" when their debut, Turn On The Bright Lights, came out of New York in the hey day of genuine New York hipster music (Seriously, remember when The Strokes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs first came out and people didn't scoff at you for trying to dress like Karen O. but instead thought you looked both crazy original and just-plain-crazy?), but did my complaints keep me from rocking the quartet's CD all summer long? Not in the slightest. It doesn't seem to matter how long I go without listening to Interpol, it seems the lyrics to "Obstacle 1" are engrained in my head, and with good reason. To me, "She puts the weights into my little heart and she gets in my room and she takes it apart" is the epitome of early 2000's hipster lust.
I'm not going to lie and say that I adore Interpol. I have a solid amount of respect for them and, in turn, the solo career of Paul "Why isn't he dating me?" Banks under the moniker Julian Plenti, featuring video cameos from Hot Half Girl Crush Emily Haines of Metric but I've never been a huge fan of the fellas. Now, that's striking me as sort of shame.
You see, there seem to be two types of music I really take a shine to. The first is that folk stuff I wax poetic so often about. The second is seductive rock and roll with fuzzy vocals and a dapper lead singer, a fondness for which not only explains my ridiculous crush on Franz Ferdinand lead singer Alex Kapranos but also begs the question, Why didn't Interpol ever rise to Ferdinandian ranks in Hot Half Hq? Also, while we're asking questions, would bands like Bad Veins sound the same if it weren't for Interpol proving there was a place in the world for cinematic indie rock and distorted vocals outside of garage rock? Would I have developed such high standards for fellas if it weren't for dapper gentlemen like Kapranos and Banks? And why the heck don't more guys dress like they're in Inpterpol?
Ah, the existential questions posed by Interpol, the answers to which we may never know.
In the meantime, make like me: Blast these songs, put on your best skinny black pants, and look self-important.
