[calificación] 4/5
That rating could be given because of 'Precipitate' alone, a beautiful, mournful and incredibly heartfelt song with jangly dreamy guitars (a shame that Interpol has deleted it from their songbook), but this EP altogether is quite solid. 'Song Seven' is one of the darkest Interpol songs written, it's main structure based on octave chords which give it a Fugazi meets Chameleons/And Also The Trees feel, completely ethereal and sinister, giving it's way to a semi-punk recitation by Kessler and one of the few agressive moments of the man on any of the band's recordings. It is followed by a completely harrowing climax with a a tremolo guitar line that resembles a bit of the shoegaze tradition of the past. Then the EP is finished off with two early versions of 'PDA' (the second version) and 'A Time To Be So Small'; 'PDA' being played at a slower pace, with a dreamier arrangement but with the macabre undertones of the song kept completely intact.
It's an interesting version for sure but I prefer the more fiery, agressive, claustrophobic version featured in TOTBL. 'A Time to Be So Small' kicks off suprisingly with a voice samples recited by Carlos Dengler on both audio channels, and Paul Bank's extremely flangered voice, giving it a disturbing paranoid edge quite different to the version on 'Antics' (and if you think the closer of the aformentioned album is dark, give this first version a spin). It conjures visions of grey sea docks, contaminated waters, murders...the metropolis gone sour, ugly, rotting underneath the avenues and the dimly lit light posts. I think the song itself speaks about assinations made by the mafia (or political mafia?), and we are left with an asphyxiating and inconclusive ending that returns to the floating voice samples of Dengler. A great sign of things to come...
Federico Nieto