Considering the details surrounding Interpol’s self-produced self-titled fourth album, their first since 2007′s Our Love To Admire, it’s safe to assume that in some way or another it was intended to be a return to their early form. They’ve went back to Matador. The artwork’s basic. They have no need for a fancy/eye-catching title: These are the same guys, Interpol, who popped up in NYC in 1997 with their downcast, uplifting post-punk revivalism. The thing is — even in the midst of a music industry that’s using reunions as a life support system and would want you to think otherwise — you can never go back.
For starters, Carlos D — one-time Downtown stud/gossip fodder/fashion plate — plays bass on these 10 tracks, is gone in real life. As seen on Letterman, he’s been replaced by ex-Slint/current jack-of-all-bands player Dave Pajo. More importantly, Interpol are bringing their post-punk revival into a world that looks quite different than it did in 1997 (or even their 10th anniversary, 2007). More than ever, folks are inventing insular stay-at-home genres that flourish on the backs of one-person bands. There’s definitely been a goth explosion in 2010, but those bands are referencing Joy Division, Echo & The Bunnymen, and the Chameleons (wait, has your average chillwaver heard the Chameleons?) in more dressed down, dirty, idiosyncratic, punk ways.
Interpol is an understated, staid record. You’ve heard a bunch of it — albeit some of it live and others via a rotten leak — so you know that. We’ve had people commenting on a perceived lack of hooks. Others saying maybe those folks should wait to hear the album in its entirety before rushing to judgment. But the officially released “Lights” and “Barricade” and less-than-official “Memory Serves,” “Success,” and “Summer Well,” etc., are out there. What happens when you sit through “Success” to “The Undoing”? Is there any Carlos D-spun magic?
Not really.
It’s dark. There are layers and moody ambiance. It’s patient. There aren’t giant choruses. But Paul “Always Malaise” Banks is Paul “Always Malaise” Banks. In some ways Interpol is sturdier than Our Love To Admire — the songs do stick together, blend into background as one — but as a result, it doesn’t offer as many surefire “singles.” If you’re a big Interpol fan you’ll be happy to have more sounds from them. (If you’ve never been a big Interpol fan you’ll keep wondering why there are big Interpol fans.)
The casual listener may notice that what used to be angular feels mushy at this point. That where things used to build slowly to some sort of dynamic shift, they plod. They sound like Interpol, but they don’t manage to move or send shivers. There’s also less space for Banks’s vocals, and D’s basslines no longer cut through like the scissors he used on that perfect hairdo. A certain sharpness remained on Our Love To Admire, as did memorable guitar and basslines, so maybe we can blame the band’s production as much as their songwriting. They’ve returned to their original home, chose that simple self-titled route, but ended up overworking the production. For such sharp-dressed dudes, they’re responsible for a messy, muddled outing. (They’re also responsible for making 45 minutes feel longer than 45 minutes.) In the end, despite the opulent image, Interpol sound better the less they do.
Interpol is out 9/7 via Matador.
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Big bummer.
Indeed. Nice to see a reference to The Chameleons, though.
Sadly this is all true, listened to it through twice and it’s a load of lumpen ‘empty’ stodge, with far too much studio gimmickery too hide the lack of tunes.
Either they have run out of ideas, or are far too ‘comfortable’ with their lot in life to produce another ‘turn on the bright lights’ or anything with a bit of edge. It really is a ‘meh’ album their is literally nothing worthwhile to say about it.
Shame.
1) What “studio gimmickery” are you talking about? Delay pedals?
2) And there is “literally nothing worthwhile to say about it”? Though your comment seems to support this assertion, I would have to disagree.
3) Please review to/too and there/their, as well as your use of quotation marks–there will be a quiz.
“…what used to be angular feels mushy at this point. That where things used to build slowly to some sort of dynamic shift, they plod. They sound like Interpol, but they don’t manage to move or send shivers.”
I’ve been trying to find a way to describe this album, and you hit the nail on the head. “Success” and “Memory Serves” are actually very good songs but lack the edge that would’ve made them great. The rest of the album meanders along with no momentum, as if Interpol is resting only on the mood of their songs instead of doing what they used to do – write very good songs that happened to have a particular mood. It’s too bad because I’m a big fan (even an apologiser for OLTA), but for the most part, this just sounds passionless and pointless.
I like this album a lot more than I did OLTA because I actually felt there was less production here than in that album. Everything on OLTA seemed overblown with orchestration and the songs were either not as well developed or too commercial sounding. Antics was their pop album but I prefer these slow, plodding, longer and depressed Interpol songs more than the “EVOL”s of their back catalog. It gets better with each listen for me. I think it’s fine that Carlos D’s bass lines are gone as well because so is he and it’s time to move on. Interpol v. 2.0 suits well with me.
The whole perception on Carlos D’s contributions seems a bit off base. We won’t be positive until we see the liner notes, but I was under the impression that even on Our Love To Admire, Carlos was steering away from primarily playing bass and embracing keys and a few other instruments to contribute to the songs. I think you can hear that contribution on “Interpol”, which is why the bass may seem lower in the mix as it’s not what Carlos wanted the focus to be on.
“There’s also less space for Banks’s vocals” — Maybe I’m interpreting that wrong, but my BIGGEST complaint with “Our Love To Admire” was that the vocals and guitars were WAY too high in the mix, drowning out the bass and drums. The fact the drums are back in the mix and we get to hear Sam Fog’s chops once again is a BIG DRAW to the new album and wasn’t mentioned AT ALL in this evaluation. Go back and listen to “Length of Love” to remember how well this man plays a drum kit.
No hooks? No obvious singles? Requires multiple listens to fully embrace? Yep, sounds like the Interpol I fell in love with six years ago.
Yes! The Chameleons, I personally feel like Interpol ripped off the most(in a good way) in their early days. But this album’s a real shame from the band who had an excellent debut, got over a sophomore slump, and then created two albums that are just pure unoriginal boredom. And come one, Carlos D was easily the last cool thing about them, and now that he’s gone(and possibly living in a Bat Cave), Interpol’s just as boring as the organization they’re named after.
That bad? I had hope, but at the same time I didn’t (see “Barricade”). Bummer indeed.
whoever posted this review probably listened to the record half a time. this record, more than any other Interpol made (yeah, even TOBL) needs time to get under your skin. yeah, the guitars dont play riffs as much as create texture. that’s kind of the point. interpol have never made something so ominous and cohesive. they have never mastered space so much. everything else they’ve done sounds sloppy (if still brilliant) compared to this record.
ir just bothers me that just so you can be the first one to post an evaluation of a record you don’t put any effort whatsoever in understanding it. and you’ll say “this is not a review, it’s a premature evaluation” fuck that, you had time to listen to it four or five times which you obviously didn’t.
Man, that’s just not the case. Knee jerk reactions can be inaccurate, but after listening to this thing repeatedly over the course of a week, there just isn’t much to it. What you hear as ominous, I hear as droning and uninspired. Suggesting people give it more time to get under their skin is like asking them to do the same for the sounds of passing cars.
Also, your name is extremely Strokes-y.
I take offense, I’m actually italian unlike that poser
ok afterall I wasn’t even conceding differences of taste which i should. I’m just repeatedly underwhelmed and disappointed by these premature evaluations. the one for Lisbon I didn’t like, either. please concede this much though: Success is the best opening track since Airbag.
Ah ok. I’m fine with the premature evaluations, but I can see how they frustrate some people.
But yeah, while there are probably hundreds of openers I’d rather hear, Success is one of the better tracks here.
“Success” is definitely the best Interpol opening track since “Untitled” and even beats that on different levels, but I still hold “Untitled” dear to my heart.
And yeah, Carlos D is gone and its a bummer, but he did see through the whole recording process, which makes me think:
This is their last album.
I mean the way it sounds, the 3 song ending, the departure of Carlos. Why not call it quits on such a self-realized album and a great accomplishment after what was one of the bigger disappointments (OLTA) of the past ten years in music. I got my fingers crossed that in a year they announce they’re breaking up. And that’s coming from a huge fan.
I was thinking the same thing. “Interpol” itself is falling apart in the album art, and the last track is called “The Undoing”.
One of the biggest disappointments of the past ten years in music!? Damn. I really enjoyed Our Love To Admire. Quite a lot. I guess I’m listening wrong.
“Bigger” disappointments, not the “biggest”
Just when you wait 3 years to put out an album after the 1-2 punch of Bright Lights & Antics, expectations can run fairly high. Don’t get me wrong, I listened to it and liked it, but my point being I don’t exactly run back to Our Love To Admire and pop it in if I want to hear Interpol.
Thankfully I have “Interpol” to listen to if I want to hear Interpol.
And @bonk — Exactly. Their name breaking apart on the cover and last track being “The Undoing” definitely seems to support this will be their last.
**I remember on the Our Love To Admire tour in Europe, they canceled a couple shows because Carlos was sick. The band posted on their site that they were really sorry and, most notably, an extra sentence saying “As you know Interpol is all four members, and if one can’t perform, then Interpol can’t perform.”
And they’ve mentioned that numerous times, how Interpol is all four of them. So I see why they replaced Carlos to tour, because Interpol is a touring band. But I don’t see how they could go into a recording studio to make another record without Carlos. You know cut your losses, reunite in 10 years, make tons of money. Because you deserve it, Interpol.
I thought it was very weak at first, but now I find it to be very GOOD. Not great, but good. Its certainly more consistent than their last record. It does tend to lose my interest by the end though…
No, most chillwavers have never heard of the Chameleons, I would guess. Also, what a shame to see Interpol go from so awesome to so shitty. Same old crap, but why does it happen. It never ceases to baffle me.
If you can’t appreciate this album, or if you choose to write it off because of this review (and/or the many others that I’m sure will follow suit)…I feel sorry for you. But it’s your loss, so whatever.
You sound ridiculous. Some people are going to disagree with you, get over it. As a fan of ALL the other Interpol albums, I find this one to be lacking (like a good band trying to sound like Interpol). Don’t be pompous about your opinion, because that’s what it is.
The band has truly further progressed their sound. It’s no accident that the details which a casual listener hears as more mushy and less angular, or as just noise, are there. Every note, beat, and sound only adds to the fantastic fabric of this album. The songwriting approach seems to have been very advanced and to have come from a band comfortable with the album making process. There is just no way, as they have stated in interviews, the songs started with some goal “mood” or sound to base the writing off of. Saying this album doesn’t have as many “surefire singles” than their last is very indicative of the type of listener writing this review. The layers and textures take plenty more than a few listens to sink in. It is indeed premature. Saying that someone is pompous for suggesting not to write off the album because of this review is ridiculous.
Actually I was just pointing out that the opinion was pompous because he said “if you CAN’T appreciate this album,” meaning that not liking the album is not a valid opinion but an inability to appreciate its obvious high-art. I’ve gone through it 5 or 6 times and still think the lows outweigh the highs.
This is by far the most depressing PREMATURE EVALUATION ever.
Agreed.
I was pretty bummed out to read this and the comments. Then I finally heard that album and kind of don’t get why everyone thinks its so bad. Then again, I really liked their last one, which seems to take a beating by a lot of the commenters here. Which is weird. That first Interpol record was pretty great, but I think Antics was better. The third one was different, but fantastic–they progressed, tried new things (bigger production–more lush), stayed moody, did some great poppy stuff that maintained the brooding feel. And with this one, it seems they intentionally dialed back the pop a bit and focused on atmosphere more. For me, it works. Great record. These guys are clearly very skilled, very tight, very controlled. I hope more people give it a fair chance.
they absolutely progressed with their 3rd album (did anyone actually listen to that album? pioneer to the falls and no i in threesome are some of their best tracks as a band) and got ripped apart for doing so. now the result is this album which is a very calculated “return to form”- a poor concept to glorify in the first place. i wish this band would have stayed major and released another album where they continue to expand their sound instead of trying to make all the haters happy.
damn, damn! I loooovved Interpol, and after Our Love to Admire had me giving away my beloved t-shirt to my mom, I was pretty pumped to hear Lights, which felt like it would be a return to the sound that made me fall in love with them in the first place. I don’t have a problem with their sound evolving, but when I think Interpol I think opiates for my ears, which was not what I got in OLTA. No doubt I’ll still love this album, but it’s a little sad that it may be more codeine than morphine.