Scots Taffer on 6/7/2007 at 00:40

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Look up Interpol's new album, Our Love to Admire - released on the 9th of July in the UK and 10th of July in the US. It's easily the best thing I've heard in 2007 and has very quickly superceded the previous album's place in my heart. They've gracefully made the move from indie post-punk to big label post-punk/rock and have evolved their sound and production values while retaining the thematic elements that make them so strong.

Now I make no apologies for the fact that I've been a massive Interpol fan from the very start, not as early as the John Peel days, but not long after their initial EP release. I've loved everything they've released and am an ardent fan. I can quite easily say they're my favourite band and in my opinion one of the most brilliant and unique sounding bands around today. If they're not your cup of tea, fair enough, but they deserve at least one listen to give them a chance.

To give you a feel for what I think are great Interpol tracks from their first two studio albums (the videos are inconsequential, I just wanted the studio tracks) but both albums are spectacular from start to finish:

Turn on the Bright Lights
The opener (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LlrkcKaWEI) Untitled is immediately followed by (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkBAUqp6NKg) Obstacle1, which nearly blows the album's wad in 2 tracks but it somehow reels it back in and continues with beautiful tracks such as (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFuGAHjYnDA) Hands Away.
This whole album runs on its basslines and skeletal guitarwork, the vocals of Paul Banks raw and the lyrics often ugly or bleak, I never expected to get drawn in by a sound like this or songs so utterly narcissistic, but it just captures my imagination.

Antics
I'll skip the opener, as it's a rather overly-sombre affair and stride right into their biggest hit to date, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMG8ajKf4NA) Evil, followed by (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZQTXZJKhWU) Narc (this video is hilarious) and other excellent tracks such as (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaDw4CAcXVE) C'mere.
Their follow-up was a much smoother affair, obviously more studio refined and curtailing some of their raw excesses, yet all the same they retained the atmosphere and feel of their previous album by staying structurally similar, a very bare bones sound and heaps of melancholy.

Their lyrics almost always feature a sense of dislocation, incongruity and very often the bitterness of love gone wrong, classic song-writing really, delivered in a variety of ways, sometimes like a preaching pastor, others like an angry internal dialogue not meant for other ears; but they always connect and never feel out of place.

Now compare with Our Love to Admire
The opener, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZmLdBOS2aI) Pioneer to the Falls has a richness that strikes you immediately, yet the bleak melancholy happily remains, so you get sucked in. The immediate follow-up is the slightly sleazy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsZr_jijdrA) No I in Threesome where a lover suggests to his partner that time is catching up with their relationship and that they might consider getting adventurous.
I won't go through the rest, but know that there are later tracks which are so far from what Interpol have previously sounded like that you can barely believe your ears - in particular, Wrecking Ball and Lighthouse evoke Explosions in the Sky and Godspeed You! Black Emperor - and there are some classic-Interpol-sounding tracks like (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZtKsfSvFTQ) The Heinrich Maneuver and Mammoth (although Banks sounds angrier than usual here) with the usual sinister and creepy delivery.
If you like what you hear in this thread, seek them out immediately and become a fan.

Scots Taffer on 6/7/2007 at 04:07

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In fact, I've finally realised what I love so much about Pioneer to the Falls... it's almost reminiscent of The Decemberists' style of sea-shanty songs.

Scots Taffer on 6/7/2007 at 10:09

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I don't really hear any Coldplay etc in their recent album at all, nowhere near that level of whiny self-consciousness - as for the Editors, they are regularly mentioned together, there is something of a bit of fan-fighting that goes on between both bands (though the bands themselves couldn't care less, I imagine) and it hasn't been helped by idiots in the musical media pitching in by lording one over the other and vice versa. Personally I couldn't find a lot to like in the only Editors album I heard and moved away from them pretty quickly, just taste I suppose.

If it helps, I don't usually go for all this classification of genre nonsense, I typically just like what I hear and follow it. I don't delve into subgenres or any of that, and when I hear people get into sophisticated musical genre discussions I pretty much switch off. I just used the "post-punk/post-rock" qualifiers for those who do know which kinds of music they like.

Scots Taffer on 6/7/2007 at 10:36

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Haha, yeah, they don't really go in for much onstage theatrics or showmanship. I loved their sound though.

Scots Taffer on 6/7/2007 at 11:02

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Interpol was kind of riding the crest of the post-punk revivalist wave that swept in the likes of Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party.