Interpol Antics LP (White Vinyl)

The classic sophomore LP, available in a limited white vinyl pressing of 2,500 and available for the first time ever in a colored version.

After two years of seemingly endless tours, the quartet returned in early 2004 to Peter Katis's Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, Conn., to record their second album. They had already debuted a handful of songs earmarked for Antics on the road: "Length of Love," "Narc," "C'mere." Meanwhile, having revisited - and reinvented - the material from Bright Lights night after night, they discovered new strengths. There was more room for experimentation in these songs, for toying with arrangements and intricacies of individual parts, than on their debut.

With Antics, Interpol has delivered a disc even more engaging than its celebrated predecessor, without sacrificing any of the depth that has made them such an important band for so many. The songs are at once catchier and more variegated, revealing themselves over time to a degree heard on few current releases, and nothing is ever obvious.

Frontman Paul Banks describes, "A lot of time, there are specific topics or events that that inspire the songs, but it's not explicit in my lyrics." Indeed, with Interpol, things are rarely what they seem.

Antics exudes a preceding aura of heaviness - even the packaging is heavy; the album's cryptic liner notes consist of little more than stark grayscale photos and epigrammatic Morse code spelling out bits of song titles... It's difficult to imagine a savvier or more satisfying second step. But the real revelation is that the band has wisely ignored a shortsighted perception of their career which dictates that where Bright Lights was an audacious plunge from a great height, Antics is the crucial landing.