Latest U.S. it-band Interpol may yet be crushed by the weight of their own good press. I mean, just how many gratuitous if well-meaning Joy Division comparisons can one band withstand before its creativity is totally undermined?

Actually, there's a lot more to this New York City quartet than good taste in records and a debt to Ian Curtis et al. The followup to this year's thrilling Interpol EP, Turn On The Bright Lights is a lush and romantic statement amid the American underground's current garage-rock crop.

The group are not only adept at swooning gloom-pop (Untitled, NYC) and urgently pretty punk-funk (Obstacle 1, Say Hello To The Angels) -- they frequently do both at once (PDA, Hands Away, Roland, The New). Even at their most precious (Stella Was A Diver And She Was Always Down), the band prevail on sheer strength of melody.

And, given Interpol's undeniably European tone, there's an added mystique in their being from New York and the seldom-seen side of the city they capture -- all gleaming drones and wintry dark. We like.

Track Listing