Unlike most Interpol fans, who are actually more "Turn on the Bright Lights" fans than true Interpol fans, I welcome the changes I've heard as they matured as a band. In fact, Interpol has been my favorite modern band in the past 4 years. I've seen them live 3 times (an upcoming 4th in October). I DVR their performances on television. I buy their extra release/B side stuff. I'm a tadUnlike most Interpol fans, who are actually more "Turn on the Bright Lights" fans than true Interpol fans, I welcome the changes I've heard as they matured as a band. In fact, Interpol has been my favorite modern band in the past 4 years. I've seen them live 3 times (an upcoming 4th in October). I DVR their performances on television. I buy their extra release/B side stuff. I'm a tad obsessed. Yet, I'm old enough to realize that bands change/grow. And I go into each new release with optimism and repeatedly listen to the songs to ensure I understand where they are going with each new song. Unfortunately, I can't find a focus on "Interpol." And that is a difficult, yet well-educated, statement to make. I've listened to the album 10 or 11 times. I went back and played their entire library a few times to listen to the changes they've made as a band. Then I played their entire library for a couple of days on shuffle to see how the songs intermingle with their older material. And while average Interpol is better than excellent releases by other bands, I can't defend this album. Unlike most other fans, I strongly embraced "Our Love to Admire." I heard such immense maturity in those songs. The chorus in "No I in Threesome." The blunt, dark honesty of "Rest My Chemistry." The hard-driving melody of "The Heinrich Maneuver." Even the ethereal beauty of the bonus track sold by iTunes, "Mind Over Time." No, they weren't all-out rock anthems like were so prominent in "Turn on the Bright Lights," but I saw that going away in half of the follow-up, "Antics," one of my favorite albums of all time.
No, unfortunately "Interpol" only half-bakes the ethereal, never really all-out rocks and touches not much of me inside like nearly everything else they've ever released. And it breaks my heart to write that. I cannot tell if they were trying so hard to distance themselves even further from "Turn on the Bright Lights," which is not what some of their fans want them to do, or trying hard not to duplicate "Our Love to Admire," which I would have loved to see grow. The flow of the album is clumsy and misguided. The songs are some of the worst they've written, even compared to B-sides and unreleased tracks from the past. For instance, "Song Seven," a rarely heard extra track recorded two different ways by them, as well as the aforementioned "Mind Over Time," which was only temporarily available as an iTunes "extra" track, are better than every single song on "Interpol." Every. Single. Song. I enjoy listening to the first half of the album, but drift far from interested when the last 5 songs begin. "Memory Serves" is my favorite and the only one that resembles true growth. "Success," "Lights," "Barricade" and "Summer Well" resemble standard Interpol structure, but are average at best and don't come close to the talent and quality of anything on their previous three efforts. The last 5 begin with the immensely dull, "Always Malaise" and drift ever-further downward, with a brief last gasp of air during "Try It On." And this time, the worst track on the "Bonus" version I purchased from iTunes is, unfortunately, the bonus track, "Crimewaves."
"Interpol" is a step in the wrong direction. I'm glad it isn't "Turn on the Bright Lights." Only I wish it hadn't been so immensely weak since I have to now wait probably another 3 years to hear their first attempt without the recently-departed linchpin, Carlos D. Knowing that the talent is there, I'm optimistic that the whole Carlos D situation might be why "Interpol" is not up to par and that their next effort will show definite growth. I point to the underrated Paul Banks solo effort, "Julian Plenti," that Interpol has a few surprises left up its sleeve. I'm counting on it.… Collapse