The end has a start/Our love to admire

Okay, shoot me for it, but I love goth. I am probably the only person in the southern hemisphere who is excited that Play Dead's second album has been reissued (I found to my astonishment on reading the tracklisting that the songs were clear and fresh in my head!). I love the new goth too, and the Editors and Interpol are two leading exemplars, one English, one American. Each has a new album, hotly awaited by some, awaited by the sharpening of knives by others.

The Editors just beg not to be taken seriously. They remind me strongly of Sisters of Mercy. Not so much in their tone, which is more reminiscent of the Chameleons, but in the hugely pretentious and enjoyable bollocks that they pass off as ideas. Your fists will pump when you listen to this, I guarantee you. There's more than a hint of Coldplay about it too. I don't mind a little bit of that particularly English plodding angstrock. I liked Rush of Blood... and I have a copy of OK computer, and I have Embrace's entire output, although I like their earlier ladrock a lot more than their borderline-MOR later stuff. The end... is in that vein: enjoyably pompous stadium rock, which doesn't stand up against really topnotch creativity but passes an hour inoffensively. The biggest drawback for me is that Tom Smith's lyrics are not singalong. Great goth relies on great singalong lyrics. It's all about pouting and posing, after all.

Our love to admire is a different cup of tea, although it's also a fairly straightforward rock album. Interpol have abandoned the funkiness of Antics and returned to the glacial rock of TOTBL. I loved Antics, so I'm not sure that's a good thing (and incidentally, those who suggest they sound like Joy Division need to listen to more Joy Division, because this is nothing like it, whereas Antics at least had the spare, bassdriven feel of Unknown pleasures). Some of Our love... is incredible: the brilliant coda to Wrecking ball for instance, which soars, and standout track Pace is the trick, but too much of the album is rather muddy, rather flat rock. Each listen does reveal new ideas, but two or three tracks are filler. Antics had no filler at all, nor really did TOTBL. Now, I really wanted to like this album, and I'll probably play it from time to time, but when I put on Antics, I have a feeling of coming home when the first bars of Last exit kick in. This is a much harder listen, maybe more rewarding in time, but not the warm hug that Antics gave.

posted by Dr Zen @ 1:15 pm