Interpol, Cambridge Corn Exchange

To lose one bass player in nine months might be considered careless, but to lose two suggests a certain malaise in the Interpol camp. In May 2010, the enigmatic Carlos D announced he was leaving the band ‘to follow another path’. He was quickly replaced by David Pajo, only for the ex-Slint member to quit on the eve of the band’s current UK tour.

If Carlos D was considering a change in career (and if his on-stage persona is anything to go by, one would imagine that this would involve something sordid like designing sex dungeons for Brooklyn suburbanites), perhaps his decision to jump ship was influenced by the lukewarm reaction afforded to Interpol’s self-titled fourth album. Devoid of imagination, or indeed anything approaching a memorable tune, it was hard to believe that this was same band that released ‘Turn On The Bright Lights’, one of the most feted alternative rock albums of the last decade and a genuine, indispensable classic.

It is therefore perhaps telling that, despite having never played the City before, the Cambridge Corn Exchange (although busy) is not sold out. It also doesn’t bode well that Interpol begin the set with ‘Success’, the opening track of their recent LP. Whilst it contains all the elements you would expect in a Interpol song - baritone vocals, staccato drumming and a general air of menace, it’s all fairly functional, almost Interpol-by-numbers. Current bass player Brad Truax may look like Frank Gallagher from ‘Shameless’ but he has obviously earned his Peter Hook chops, whilst lead singer Paul Banks is sporting a curiously asymmetrical haircut which is more Swedish footballer than New York hipster rock star.

However, the band then launch into ‘Say Hello To The Angels’ and we are reminded of why we all fell in love with the band in the first place. It motors away like Joy Division covering ‘This Charming Man’ before breaking into the euphoric middle eight of ‘Baby, baby you’re really the best…’. Better still is ‘Hands Away’, which slowly builds into something almost elegiac, helped in no small part by Secret Machines’ Brandon Curtis on keyboards.

Unfortunately, whilst anything from ‘Turn On The Bright Lights’ or 2005’s ‘Antics’ is invariably excellent, the remaining tracks fail to engage the crowd and, at worst, are fairly dispirited. And with a set that is evenly spread over the band’s four albums, it makes for a evening of highs and lows. So whilst ‘Barricade’ and (especially) ‘Lights’ from ‘Interpol’ somehow contrive to make the band sound like some outdated heavy rock band from the 1980s, ‘NYC’ is quite wonderful, Daniel Kessler making his guitar sound like an exploding firework at the song’s finale.

After finishing the set with a brooding ‘Not Even Jail’, Paul and Daniel take to the stage alone to encore with ‘The Lighthouse’, the final track from ‘Our Love to Admire’. At over six minutes long and sounding not dissimilar to a funeral march, it was a poor choice of song, almost immediately sapping the energy from the room and the crowd around me noticeably thins before it’s end. Those who stayed are rewarded with ‘The New’, which sees a smattering of lighters being held aloft in the front rows, before a punishing ‘Slow Hands’.

Despite the calls from the audience, there is no ‘Stella Was A Diver And She Was Always Down’ (nor do we get ‘PDA’ or ‘Untitled’). However the band do finish with a song from their debut, the frenetic ‘Obstacle 1’. As Paul sings ‘You go stabbing yourself in the neck’ over the duelling guitar lines, it’s another reminder of what a powerful group Interpol can be. Unfortunately on current form, they resemble a band moving in ever decreasing circles.