From the uniformly excellent "Antics", "Slow Hands" is yet another dark covetous treasure proffered by NYC's sharpest, most bracing miserablists INTERPOL.
Indeed, while the current crop of UK chancers such as Hard-Fi, Maximo Park and The Ordinary Boys relentlessly chase the early '80s, Interpol continue to reference that previously-maligned decade's most overlooked passioneers such as The Chameleons and The Sound in bringing us the best in potent, atmospheric, thinking man's rock. And, with its' see-sawing guitars courtesy of Daniel Kessler and Paul Banks being offset to perfection by the funky syncopation of the Carlos D/ Sam Fogarino rhythm section, "Slow Hands" is another absolute winner. Lyrically, Banks is on an emotional knife edge as usual, declaring "Can't you see what you've done to my heart and soul? This is a wasteland now!" as the music curls and constricts around him. The ingredients add up to a lethal Mickey Finn, but one you won't be able to resist downing repeatedly in one.
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Stay tuned for the flip too. It's a live'n'livid take of previous killer single "C'mere" from the band's April 2005 Eden Session and - with Banks' again straddling the divide between salvation and oblivion - it's a poised game of emotional Russian roulette, attacked with muscle and vigour by the whole quartet.
Interpol, then, continue to get better and better. Their "Slow Hands" can caress gently or crush brutally, but - one way or another - you won't be able to resist their embrace for much longer.
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