Julian Plenti Is... Skyscraper

Julian Plenti is Paul Banks, the guy who sings for Interpol. Seriously, he should just give it up and change his name to Ian Curtis. Minor melodies, upbeat but unhappy, vocals so even and disaffected they sound almost computer generated. Sounds... a lot like Interpol! Not quite goth rock, but heavily influenced by 80s post-punk & gloom staples: Bauhaus, Joy Division / New Order, The Cure, The Chameleons. The acoustic tracks (3, 9) are also effectively creepy... in that Aquarium from Carnival of the Animals sort of way. This is some haunted shit.

no FCCs
try: 1, 4, 10, 3

*1. fingerpicked swirler electric and smooth, loose drums. three-note descending chorus. a sweet, haunting melody. simple and great.
2. chunky rudder guitar. piercing single-note lead guitar & computer/keys noise. unsettling chorus. repetitive lyric phrases. ends with computer/amp crap.
*3. sweet picked acoustic & creepy violin. think: the music that plays in movies when you discover the haunted castle in the woods (certainly not carnival of the animals -- what?). mostly instrumental. abrupt cut off -- fade out instead!
*4. the single. angry, means-business rudder guitar. fuzzy blowout bass. nice layered vocals. explosive wall-of-guitar chorus. will please anyone into classic interpol. ends with solo vocal: “this is amazing”.
5. slow, sparse piano & soft pedal vocals (“come have at us; we are strong”). some spoken samples, heartbeat effects & strings.
6. solo electric -- almost has a “little french cafe” feel. unexpected, queasy half-happy melodies. drums come in late and ground the melody. ends uncertainly.
7. loud & fuzzy & fanfarey. overarching brass riff & snare hit drums. slow-down and time change midway in. ends with original tempo.
8. downtempo twangy acoustic & strings. actually reminds me of toad the wet sprocket. lyrics about... crushing on a sportscaster?
9. waltz. circular picked acoustic & leering violin. pretty & mournful.
*10. solo scratchy guitar and intimate/confrontational vocals to start. overarching, dramatic doom-and-gloom lead. a dragger.
11. fade in and fade out ~10 sec. repetitive piano & ghostlike sound effects. brief, creepy robot vocals. you’d think this clown scored “doom 3”. this track freaks me out.