Line #1 Music/Interpol


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/c0e583e197e6a7a116d4d47fbe9bdf39.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: L to R: Daniel Kessler, Paul Banks, and Sam Fogarino.]]
3
4	-> ''"Rosemary\
5	Heaven restores you in life\
6	You're coming with me\
7	Through the aging, the fearing, the strife"''
8	-->-- "Evil"
9
10	Interpol is an American indie rock band formed in 1997. The band came to prominence in 2002 with their debut album ''Turn on the Bright Lights'', which has since been deemed a seminal album of 2000s {{indie rock}} and [[PostPunk post-punk revival]], to the extent that they were deemed the TropeCodifier of the latter genre and many bands that cropped up in the wake of the album's success were disparagingly labeled "Interpol clones". They have released six more albums since then, each to varying degrees of critical acclaim.
11
12	The band consists of Paul Banks on vocals and guitar, Daniel Kessler on guitar and back up vocals, and Sam Fogarino on drums. Bassist Carlos Dengler left the band in 2010 to pursue personal projects, and has not yet been officially replaced. For the duration of their 2010 tour to support their fourth album (self-titled ''Interpol''), the remaining trio have been joined by [[Music/{{Slint}} Dave Pajo]] on bass and Brandon Curtis as keyboardist and back-up vocalist.
13
14	The band was named not after the international police, but after Paul Banks' nickname when he went to school in UsefulNotes/{{Spain}}. His friends would refer to him as "Pol, Pol, Interpol" ("Pol" being the closest pronunciation for "Paul" for a Spanish speaker, given that Spanish doesn't really use the ''au'' vowel cluster[[note]]This incidentally raises the question of why Paul didn't Hispanicize his name to Pablo[[/note]]). Of course, while "Interpol" does seem like a decent band name, it didn't make searching for them online very easy during their early years.
15
16	Each member of the band is noted for a particular trait: Banks for his nasal baritone, Kessler for his guitar flourishes and inability to remain still while playing, Dengler for his fashion choices and habit of wearing his bass guitar very low, and Fogarino for his energetic drumming style. Early on, their sound was frequently likened to Music/JoyDivision, a comparison the band is less than enthusiastic about. Nowadays, they're better described as a {{goth}}ic Music/{{REM}}
17
18	In 2009, lead singer Banks released a solo album under the pseudonym Julian Plenti.
19
20	Not to be confused with InterpolSpecialAgent.
21	----
22	!!Discography:
23	* ''Music/TurnOnTheBrightLights'' (2002)
24	* ''Antics'' (2004)
25	* ''Our Love to Admire'' (2007)
26	* ''Interpol'' (2010)
27	* ''El Pintor'' (2014)
28	* ''Marauder'' (2018)
29	* ''The Other Side of Make-Believe'' (2022)
30	----
31	!!Turn on the Bright Tropes:
32	* AlbumTitleDrop: "It's up to me now, '''turn on the bright lights'''". in "NYC".
33	* AllLoveIsUnrequited: A frequent theme in their songs, but especially obvious in "C'Mere".
34	* AnimatedMusicVideo: "PDA" to an extent.
35	* AWildRapperAppears:
36	** The original demo of "Song Seven" features a rap verse preformed by an unknown rapper. The voice definitely does not belong to Paul Banks, and the final recording from the bonus track version of ''Antics'' removes the verse completely, so who the performer is remains a mystery as of yet.
37	** The rapper is actually Daniel Kessler, as proven by live performances of the song.
38	* BuffySpeak: Paul Banks is known for what Pitchfork once described as "endearing" "middle-school--poetry", so this trope abounds:
39	** Similes include comparing the subway to a porno ("NYC"), love to a pony ("Leif Erikson") or a laboratory ("Specialist").
40	** "It's in the things that she puts in my head, her stories are boring and stuff", from "Obstacle 1".
41	** "If it's still pretty, what with all these leaves", from "Pioneer to the Falls".
42	* CelebritySong: "Leif Erikson", which doesn't actually have anything to do with the Norse explorer.
43	* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The album art for ''Interpol''.
44	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: "Stella Was a Diver And She Was Always Down". The song's subtle references to oral sex become much, much less subtle once Banks starts singing "Oh yeah.... so good.... right on" for a whole minute.
45	* EpicRocking: "Galivan", a bonus track from their self-titled effort, is their longest ever studio recording at six minutes and forty-nine seconds. Other songs that exceed six minutes include "Stella Was a Diver & She Was Always Down", "The New" and "Specialist". To a lesser extent, there's "Precipitate", "Not Even Jail", "Take You On a Cruise", "Pioneer to the Falls", "The Lighthouse" and "Lights".
46	* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Pretty much everything about Carlos Dengler inspires this.
47	* FadingIntoTheNextSong:
48	** Happens for the first time towards the end of their fourth album, with "All Of The Ways" and "The Undoing".
49	** An unusual variant in ''Our Love to Admire''. "The Heinrich Maneuver" makes use of StopAndGo, so when it abruptly ends and "Mammoth" begins at the same tempo, it's not immediately obvious that the former song has ended.
50	* FakeOutFadeOut: In the middle of "The Heinrich Maneuver".
51	* GratuitousSpanish:
52	** In "The Undoing". Partially justified by Banks' fluency in the language as a result of living in Spain while growing up.
53	** ''El Pintor'' is Spanish for "the painter", as well as being an anagram of the band's name.
54	* IndecipherableLyrics: So very much. This isn't helped by the complete lack of official lyrics on either the band's website or in the album sleeves.
55	* IntercourseWithYou: "Stella Was a Diver And She Was Always Down" is about oral sex.
56	* TheInvisibleBand: "Evil" features a creepy puppet singing in Banks' voice and the video for "The Heinrich Maneuver" features random characters acting out a scene.
57	* LargeHam: Vocalist Paul Banks can get pretty dramatic in his delivery and likes to combine this with a PerishingAltRockVoice.
58	* LongRunnerLineUp: The band had a different drummer in its early years, but from 2000 to 2010 the band was Banks, Dengler, Kessler and Fogarino, making them a Type 2. Post Carlos D's departure, the band has been working as a trio for 9 years, which will soon make them eligible to become a ''different'' Type 2.
59	* LoopedLyrics: "Untitled"'s lyrics consist of "Surprise, sometimes, I'll come around, when you're down" repeated several times.
60	* MinimalisticCoverArt: The band are quite fond of this. [[http://images.genius.com/2ae60351e04b79a80dd27ba7bd8841bd.900x900x1.jpg Behold]], the cover of ''Antics'', which probably takes the cake.
61	* MusicVideoOvershadowing: "Evil": A song about a man tempting a woman to commit adultery with him (either that or a character study of [[OutlawCouple serial killer couple]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_West Fred]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosemary_West Rosemary West]]). The video is about a puppet who is rushed to surgery after being involved in a car accident.
62	* NippleAndDimed: Whether deliberate or not, women who feature in the band's videos are generally wearing something light or transparent enough for this trope to take effect. See the videos for "PDA" and "The Heinrich Maneuver" for example.
63	* NonAppearingTitle: It's easier to list the songs in which this isn't the case:
64	** Every song on ''Turn on the Bright Lights'' is this sans "Say Hello to the Angels" (and "Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down", though that one is debatable [[note]]It only appears in StudioChatter, and it is said as "..she's always down" rather than "...she was always down."[[/note]] and the bonus track "Specialist").
65	** In ''Antics'', every song aside from "Slow Hands", "Not Even Jail" and "Length of Love"[[note]]Well, kind of. It's "length''s'' of love" in the song[[/note]].
66	** Much less frequently in ''Our Love to Admire'', with only "Pioneer to the Falls", "The Scale", "The Heinrich Maneuver", and "Mammoth" having non-appearing titles.
67	* OneManSong: "Leif Erikson", overlapping with CelebritySong.
68	* TheOneThatGotAway: Both "C'mere" and "The Heinrich Maneuver" touch on this.
69	* TheOner: The video for "The Heinrich Maneuver" is an odd example of this.
70	* OneWomanSong: "Stella Was a Diver And She Was Always Down".
71	* OneWordTitle: About half of their songs are this, from "Specialist" and "PDA" off their debut to "Surveillance" and "NYSMAW" off their latest.
72	* OutlawCouple: One interpretation of "Evil" posits that the song's about Fred & Rosemary West, a married couple who raped and murdered at least 12 different people (including their own daughter) between 1967 and 1987.
73	* PerformanceVideo: "Mammoth"
74	* PostPunk: Their main style. TropeCodifier for the Post-Punk revival movement.
75	* PuttingOnTheReich: Carlos' fashion style pre-''Our Love to Admire'' is commonly referred to as "Nazi chic". Particularly evident in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FktYzdDJdqQ this video]].
76	* PrecisionFStrike:
77	** "No way, no fucking way" in the otherwise calm "Try It On".
78	** "It's that time, fuck the surface to meet your specialist."
79	** "Mammoth" contains two, one in each verse.
80	** A Precision F Strike is usually added to "Leif Erikson" during live performances: "But if your life is such a big fucking joke, why should I care?"
81	** "Toni" has "The aim now is fuckin' leave it behind, yes."
82	* RockTrio: The band became this after the departure of Carlos D, with them choosing not to recruit a new bassist and Banks taking over bass duties instead.
83	* SelfBackingVocalist: Banks does this a lot on the album tracks, with the exception of a few songs on which Kessler's vocals feature.
84	* SelfTitledAlbum: Their fourth, and the last album to feature all four of them together.
85	* [[SharpDressedMan Sharp Dressed Men]]
86	* SingleStanzaSong: "Untitled".
87	* StopAndGo: "PDA", "Evil", "The Heinrich Maneuver".
88	* StudioChatter: ''"This one's called Stella Was a Diver & She Was Always Down."''
89	* TheStoic: From a review of their latest tour: ''"The NYC post-punkers are so stoic, when frontman Paul Banks clears his throat between songs, it could be considered stage banter".''
90	* ThreeWaySex: The song "No I in Threesome" is about a couple considering this.
91	* WordSaladLyrics: The band own this trope. [[http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Obstacle-1-lyrics-Interpol/37D5F3C49082A5E648256CBC0012033C "Obstacle 1" is probably the best example.]] Others:
92	** ''Specialist'':
93	-->My love's a laboratory
94	-->I set all my pets free
95	-->So baby you should sleep with me
96	-->I make trips to the bathroom
97	-->Yeah my friends all have true grit
98	-->I am speckled like a leopard
99	** ''Slow Hands'':
100	--> We spies, intimate slow hands
101	--> Killer for hire, you know not yourself
102	--> We spies, intimate slow hands
103	--> You let the face slap around yourself
104	** ''Narc'':
105	--> Touch your thighs, I'm the lonely one
106	--> Remember that last sweat 'cause that was the right one
107	** ''The Heinrich Maneuver'':
108	--> How are things on the West Coast?
109	--> I hear you're moving real fine
110	--> You wear those shoes like a dove
111	--> Now strut those shoes, we'll go roaming in the night
112	** ''PDA'':
113	--> Yours is the only version of my desertion that I could ever subscribe to
114	--> That is all that I can do
115	--> You are a past winner, the last dinner,
116	--> I'm raking all around me, until the last drop is behind you [...]
117	--> Sleep tight, grim rite, we have two hundred couches...
118	* {{Yarling}}: Banks's delivery is decidedly nasally and monotone, not helping with those Music/JoyDivision comparisons.

Context Music / Interpol