Originally written by Gareth Dobson · 11 November 2002
Interpol
Obstacle 1
Label: Matador Records Release Date: 11/11/2002
Interpol it seems, are a band out of time and out of place. Perhaps that's why they manage to offer up something as compelling as this.
The touchstones are evident, but equally, only a pointer. Joy Division is the obvious beginning place. Paul Bank's vocals manage to produce the same sense of morbid claustrophobia as Ian Curtis, and **Daniel Kessler* offers jagged, asymmetrical guitar stabs ala Sumner or *Robert Smith**. Its really quite breathtaking. Like its forbearers, the song contains a dark, brooding groove of its own that takes itself into a strange and otherly place.
"_She puts the weights into my little heart and she gets in my room and she tears it apart" flails the vocalist, as 'Obstacle 1_' builds to its dark, crushing crescendo. Perhaps the style of its ending is expected. What's not anticipated is the force and power the band creates in doing so. Like I said, breathtaking.
• 8 Gareth Dobson's Score