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Short Review of Interpol - Pioneer to the Falls

Hi there everyone! I've resurfaced a review that I did 2 years ago on this Interpol song!

The text below is copied directly from a show summary, which I wrote back in 2015. I wanted to revive this review, as it was lost when we upgraded our website. Enjoy!

The Review: Interpol's "Pioneer to the Falls"

Track 1 on their 3rd album "Our Love to Admire"

After starting with a flow of quiet and calming music, we review a song from Interpol - Pioneer to the Falls. The instrumentation and lyrics of this track are very haunting - I describe how I simply just had this ominous feeling of something being seriously wrong when I first heard this. Even though it sounds so oddly beautiful at the same time.. It actually transpires that Paul Banks, lead singer, is singing about a very upsetting case of crime that occurred in the US. It involves a girl walking from a bar "The Pioneer" to the next one "The Falls" late on an autumn night. Only when you realise exactly what it is that he is exactly singing about do you realise how deep, emotional and hopeful his lyrics are.

  • "Show me the dirt pile and I will pray that the soul can take three stow-aways"
  • "You vanish with no guile and I will not pay but the soul can wait. I felt you so much today..."
  • "I know you try, you fly straight into my heart" .... "but here comes the falls.."
  • "Your heart makes me feel, your heart makes me bold."
  • "Always concealed, safe and inside... Alive."

Above are a number of examples of what he sings about. And at first sight reading them, they kind of almost look like your typical lovey-dovey lyrics. But try to look beyond and consider the instrumentation and the song-title at the same time.

The most... almost disturbing thing that I find about this song is the 30 second super-stellar, loud and ambient guitar playing section halfway through. It's because this solo is played immediately after he says "but here comes the falls" (a reference to the bar the girl is walking toward). So it almost feels that (in my opinion) Interpol's most beautiful instrumental part of anything they've ever produced is actually a STAGE for the horrible crime taking place. It feels like they've crafted it specifically to make the listener imagine what's happened and to encapsulate the time that her soul is searching for some new "stow-away"... And it sounds to me like he feels her presence within him somehow.

This song is the intense work of a true artist. I'm amazed at how strong and ominous the message in the song is while at the same time being so... helpless and hopeful. Interpol really have left so much open to interpretation on this song, and it's one of the best art-pieces in music that I personally ever listened to. Even without the lyrics or the research, the music throughout just makes me think of a dark and creepy blistering path through some woods. I just find it remarkable how a piece of music can produce such a stage for such a vulgar story.

Posted on January 21st, 2017

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Thomas

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Comments (1)
Decl
Pretty good song and a nice flashback Good stuff, Thomas!
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With a name inspired by walking through the autumn countryside, Underneath the Sycamore generally represents artists that express themselves through calm and introspective music.

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