Detachment and immediacy collide on Antics, Interpol’s seminal sophomore album. Dark, robust production—full-bodied bass snarling beneath each chorus on “Slow Hands,” guitar wailing siren-like through “Length of Love”—offsets the theme of distance central to the record’s lyrics. To celebrate the album’s twentieth anniversary, the band has recently released an expanded version of the record. The reissue includes a full live recording of the band’s 2005 performance in Mexico City and introduces one-off single “Direction” to streaming platforms for the first time.
Originally featured on the soundtrack for Alan Ball’s HBO drama Six Feet Under in 2005, “Direction” sees Interpol exercising restraint. A focus on mood shrinks the usual broad swaths of the band’s post-punk landscape. The guitar that once seared through the record vaporizes under reverb, drifting through the song like fog. Gone are the clear, long notes that soar from Paul Banks’ diaphragm to the front of the mix: here, his vocals are hushed, buried. Repetitive lyrics—which consist of only the word “direction” sung nineteen times—and unvaried instrumentation threaten to flatten the track into monotony. Evoking but never interrogating melancholy, the inertia of “Direction” seals the song shut.
Only the pulse of the bass drum grounds the track with a sense of urgency, building momentum as Carlos Dengler’s bassline thickens and braids itself around emerging snare hits. For a moment, the track teeters on the edge of a climax, like a tidal wave about to break. But even this is impermanent. Each instrumental layer falls away just as it begins to settle; the track undoes itself.
As the last note recedes, wisps of something trail in its wake. A sense of catharsis—or a sense of loss? I used to think the track cleanses, but now I wonder if it empties instead. This distinction collapses within the closed chamber of “Direction,” leaving you weightless, suspended, right where you started.
