Interpol: Better musicians than the Met Police, worse law enforcers.

There’s an electric air of expectation as Interpol take to the stage at London's Alexandra Palace. Three albums into their career, the New York four-piece have built up enough word of mouth to fill this venue – 8000 capacity – two nights running.

Artfully distinctive in their song titles, imagery and dress, Interpol have most frequently been compared to post-punk titans Joy Division, The Chameleons and Echo & the Bunnymen. More pertinently, there is no other band around today that sounds remotely like them.

They open with ‘Pioneer To The Falls’ – the first track from 2007's acclaimed album Our Love To Admire. It feels like a statement of intent in every way – a desire to be different; to set their own values; to stand apart from what passes for the culture of the day.

Singer Paul Banks opens proceedings with the following bleak diatribe: “Show me the dirt pile and I will pray/That the soul can take three stowaways/Vanish with no guile and I will not pay/But the soul can wait/The soul can wait.” You can read whatever meaning you like into the words, but the emotion he and his band installs behind them can’t be duplicated by anyone.

What follows is a greatest hits set. The singles are all there, plus stellar album tracks such as ‘Narc’, ‘Take Me On A Cruise’ and ‘Pace Is The Trick’. What is perhaps most striking is the way in which the songs from each of the band’s albums seem to hang together in style and tone. It is as if Interpol are recasting themselves afresh each time around, responding to the state of the world as they find it.

Three albums in, where this band has come from matters a lot less than where they are heading. (Mark Taylor)