It doesn't work for Cleveland

I was listening to Interpol's "Turn On The Bright Lights" today and I was struck by its similarities to Bright Eye's "I'm Wide Awake It's Morning." Both albums explore New York, and I believe both albums explore New York as America in microcosm.
Makes a lot of sense to me. New York, at least for me, has always been America in miniature. I mean, it has the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, for heaven's sake. If that doesn't sum up America then I don't know what does. New York is the quintessential American city in a way that no other city really approaches. Every other city is too regional: Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago, Seattle... None of them come close to matching New York.
I wonder at the drive behind both bands, to explore and city and so, intentionally or otherwise, explore a country. Did they both think to themselves, a city, yeah, I can sum up a city, and then end up taking on the nation? I don't know.
It's an interesting comparison - the self-consciously Dylanesque leanings of Conor Oberst against the Joy Division sound of Interpol (was Interpol part of a secret government program to create Joy Division doubles, much like Saddam Hussein and his doubles, in case of emergency? The world may never know), both of them capturing and encountering a city, an era, and a nation.