Love Letter To A Record: DIET On Interpol’s ‘Turn On The Bright Lights’

August 28, 2018

Many of us can link a certain album to pivotal moments in our lives. Whether it’s the first record you bought with your own money, the chord you first learnt to play on guitar, the song that soundtracked your first kiss, the album that got you those awkward and painful pubescent years or the one that set off light bulbs in your brain and inspired you to take a big leap of faith into the unknown – music is often the catalyst for change in our lives and can even help shape who we become.

In this series, Music Feeds asks artists to reflect on their relationship with music and share with us stories about the effect music has had on their lives.

Here are their love letters to records that forever changed their lives.

Carlos Tinsey, DIET – Interpol’s Turn On The Bright Lights

Dear Paul, Carlos (plz come back to the band), Sam and Daniel,

Just wanted to drop a line and thank you for writing the soundtrack to my puberty. As a 13 year-old bass player named Carlos, I thought it was fateful that you guys also had a Carlos bassist (who also played a fender jazz bass – bloody heck).

The first song I heard off TOTBL was ‘Obstacle 1’ whilst flicking through Channel [V] when that was cool. I immediately hopped on Limewire (soz for illegally downloading, but I’ve bought the record since) and have been listening to the album on a weekly basis since.

It’s fair to say that Turn On The Bright Lights has shaped the kind of music I listen to, and the music I like to write. Going from ‘NYC’ into ‘PDA’ straight after, this album proved to me that a signature sound could be maintained, even when the tempo and intentions of the songs are completely different.

A lot of the moods in our new EP Sundown are a direct nod to the sounds that came out of this masterpiece. Since you’ve got a new album out, pleeeease come to Australia, and we’ll be sure as hell to put our hands up for a support slot 😉

Yours in guitar music,

Carlos

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DIET are a Melbourne five piece whose debut EP ‘Sundown’ is out now! Listen to it here or catch them showcasing at BIGSOUND next week before heading out on a national tour, which wraps up with a slot at Victoria’s NYE On The Hill