After enduring nonstop comparisons with Joy Division over the past four years, the guys in Interpol must be relishing the reception this Los Angeles duo are receiving. Virtually everything printed so far about She Wants Revenge has mentioned how closely the outfit resembles Interpol, from singer Justin Warfield’s deadpan croon to his clipped, metronomic guitar playing to timekeeper Adam 12’s minimal, pared-down beats. Like Interpol frontman Paul Banks, Warfield fancies himself something of a black-clad romantic; throughout the band’s homonymous debut, he sings borderline-hilarious lines about darkened chambers and the forbidden pleasures available inside them. For the most part, She Wants Revenge don’t do as good a job at reviving self-obsessed ’80s-era mope rock as Banks and his mates; they seem slightly less committed to their material, so it doesn’t ignite like the best stuff on Antics or Turn On the Bright Lights. But Warfield does appear (slightly) less concerned with coming off like a brooding, intellectual hunk than Banks, and that means you get a few appealing moments of unapologetically lightweight dance-pop abandon.
She Wants Revenge + Electric Six + Rock Kills Kid | Middle East downstairs, 480 Mass Ave, Cambridge | Feb 14 | 617.864.EAST
