The boys from Interpol are in a dangerous spot. While their two albums have been almost incredulously well received, neither is very different from the other; beyond that, they’re wrapping up a successful North American tour, but they’re apparently disappointing live.
As they release their third album on July 10--hopefully something different from their first two--we think to ourselves, “If this isn’t good, they might just be finished.”
And then we hear Our Love To Admire and remember, “Oh yeah, these guys are good musicians.”
“Babe it's time we gave something new a try,” frontman Paul Banks sings on “No I in Threesome,” coincidentally addressing the exact worries of Interpol fans everywhere. Though for almost the entirety of the album, upon first listen, it doesn’t sound like they’re giving anything new a try. Our Love To Admire starts off as something creepier than what we’re used to, but nothing is really that different.
As the tracks drone on--and they do drone, although it’s about as pleasant as droning can sound--it becomes evident that Interpol’s sound has changed, but only a bit, and very subtly; the musicians are more in control with an overall slower sound. They’ve also taken a few steps to invite closer examination: By emphasizing percussion more than echoing guitars, they’ve developed a deeper, more textured album than we’ve heard from them before.
And then we listen to tracks like “The Heinrich Maneuver” and remember that they’re still capable of fun songs, too, despite their generally slower sound. We hear “Mammoth” and are taken a bit aback--is this the same lead singer? He’s practically whispering at first, until he belts out lines like “Just spare me the suspense/ Now it's enough with this fucking incense,” and things really start to vary up as they show off the tightness of their sound as perfectly as they can.
It’s not until the final track--an almost experimental, radically different song, the likes of which we’ve never heard before--that something clicks. “This space is set to break/ It's just too safe for me outside tonight/ And I want that/ I face the storms at the time/ From the lighthouse”; The vocals sound distant, almost haunted as ambient noise fades in and out each second. Its subject matter is depressing and isolated.
This is not the Interpol we’ve heard before; this sounds like atmospheric post-rock, like Godspeed You Black Emperor or Explosions in the Sky. And as the track finishes, it forces us to reconsider, to take a step back and listen to the album again, perhaps a bit closer: Does the band really sound the same?
As they release their third album on July 10--hopefully something different from their first two--we think to ourselves, “If this isn’t good, they might just be finished.”
And then we hear Our Love To Admire and remember, “Oh yeah, these guys are good musicians.”
“Babe it's time we gave something new a try,” frontman Paul Banks sings on “No I in Threesome,” coincidentally addressing the exact worries of Interpol fans everywhere. Though for almost the entirety of the album, upon first listen, it doesn’t sound like they’re giving anything new a try. Our Love To Admire starts off as something creepier than what we’re used to, but nothing is really that different.
As the tracks drone on--and they do drone, although it’s about as pleasant as droning can sound--it becomes evident that Interpol’s sound has changed, but only a bit, and very subtly; the musicians are more in control with an overall slower sound. They’ve also taken a few steps to invite closer examination: By emphasizing percussion more than echoing guitars, they’ve developed a deeper, more textured album than we’ve heard from them before.
And then we listen to tracks like “The Heinrich Maneuver” and remember that they’re still capable of fun songs, too, despite their generally slower sound. We hear “Mammoth” and are taken a bit aback--is this the same lead singer? He’s practically whispering at first, until he belts out lines like “Just spare me the suspense/ Now it's enough with this fucking incense,” and things really start to vary up as they show off the tightness of their sound as perfectly as they can.
It’s not until the final track--an almost experimental, radically different song, the likes of which we’ve never heard before--that something clicks. “This space is set to break/ It's just too safe for me outside tonight/ And I want that/ I face the storms at the time/ From the lighthouse”; The vocals sound distant, almost haunted as ambient noise fades in and out each second. Its subject matter is depressing and isolated.
This is not the Interpol we’ve heard before; this sounds like atmospheric post-rock, like Godspeed You Black Emperor or Explosions in the Sky. And as the track finishes, it forces us to reconsider, to take a step back and listen to the album again, perhaps a bit closer: Does the band really sound the same?
source: cinemablend.com
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