THE DOUBLE /// LOOSE IN THE AIR /// MATADOR RECORDS ///

Because of their early associations, it's going to be impossible to see any reviews of Loose in the Air without reading a comparison to Interpol. So let me start as succinctly as I can: the Double sound nothing like Interpol. Are we clear?

The Double is a pop band that turned into a noise band that has finally morphed into a noise band that writes pop songs. They've been around for a long time, and Loose in the Air has a confidence that's contagious. It's definitely not the best album you've ever heard, but dammit if it doesn't do everything in its power to convince you that it is.

It opens strong, with "Up All Night" into "Idiocy," but not until the fifth song does Loose in the Air start to exhibit some memorability. Although this is one of those records that requires a good twenty listens before different things really seep into your conscious from your subconscious. "Ripe Fruit" is the sort of soul song as translated through Josh Haden of Spain. "What Sound it Makes the Thunder" might be the most amateurish cover of some unreleased song from the Jimi Hendrix songbook. "In The Fog" is Burt Bacharach on Quaaludes; the song is quiet and simple and big and weird, and it just works on so many different levels-definitely the highlight of the record for me, but only in the context of the album as a whole. Pull it aside and the song is nice, but in sequence it's wonderful. Loose in the Air ends with the moody and strange "Dance" and "Busty Beasty."

Then you go back and listen again. And again. And (really), yet again. At this point you say to yourself: "that one song reminds me a little of Pavement" ("Icy"); and: "is that a trace of Crash Test Dummies I hear?" ("On Our Way"). (I actually went back and used Limewire to download a Crash Test Dummies song, and while I determined that, no, they don't really sound alike, I point out that I DID feel it necessary to investigate. It reminds me of Hood the more I listen to it, actually.)

I've given Loose in the Air those twenty listens. And I gave it twenty more. While not charming or graceful, it is full of personality. Perhaps even many personalities, but not quirky, not funny, not moody, not difficult, nor anything you could use to describe a personality. Nor could you say schizophrenic. Loose in the Air just is what it is and proud to be that way. It should be. The Double have made the most adventurous record of the year. Harvey Jacob