Interpol

Interpol formed in New York City in 1997, emerging as a leading act in the post-punk revival with their 2002 debut Turn on the Bright Lights. Guitarists Daniel Kessler and Paul Banks developed an interlocking style where clean, delay-treated arpeggios weave around each other, creating dense harmonic textures from relatively simple parts. Their guitar tones favor clarity and separation — Kessler's Fender Telecaster and Banks' Fender Telecaster and Gibson Les Paul run through clean amplifiers with subtle chorus and delay, producing a sound indebted to Joy Division and The Cure but with a more precise, architectural quality. The rhythm section's driving pulse anchors the atmospheric guitar work, preventing the band's darkly melodic songs from drifting into pure ambience. Interpol's disciplined approach to effects and tone has kept their sound remarkably consistent across six albums.