courtesy of Capitol Records
Interpol
Our Love to Admire (Capitol)
Out July 10, 2007
Interpol: You either love them or hate them. Haters complain of their derivative sound that openly channels the jarring awkwardness and emotional desolation of Manchester legends of gloom Joy Division as well as the jangling guitar tonality and sardonic lyrics of the artfully melancholic tag team Johnny Marr and Morrissey. Conversely, Interpol devotees don’t believe that, in their case, influence is a dirty word, but instead a musical reference point that the New York-based foursome has woven delicately and unobtrusively into their unique brand of dark alternative music.
Influences and haters aside, their third album Our Love to Admire finds Interpol comfortable being, well, Interpol. After their breakout debut Turn On the Bright Lights, and their sophomore follow-up Antics— in which they sought to prove themselves as a legitimate band and not a one-hit-album wonder—Interpol fans (myself included) held their collective breaths in suspense, afraid that their latest effort would be uninspired, recycled old material or worse, just plain bad. I’m happy to inform anxious fans that Our Love to Admire is indeed the Interpol album that we’ve been waiting for. Although it took a few listens, OLTA is a sumptuous array of tracks, a majority of which focus on the various permutations of love, lust and loss. The album commences with the arresting track “Pioneer to the Falls” in which guitarist Daniel Kessler induces shivery yearning and singer Paul Banks’ austere vocals and darkly poetic lyrics convey the desperation of obsessed lovers. The comical and provocative “There’s No I in Threesome” urges sexual adventurism and the upbeat first single “The Heinrich Maneuver” is an indecisive ode to the West Coast and a failed affair. OLTA concludes with “The Lighthouse,” a sprawling and shadowy song that, with hypnotic guitars, moody vocals and the clanging of dissonant piano keys, sounds like a macabre, modern rendition of Henry Mancini’s classic “Moon River.”
Check out Interpol June 9 at Live 105’s BFD Festival which also features performances by Bloc Party, Queens Of The Stone Age, The Faint, Silversun Pickups, local favorites Honeycut, The Lovemakers and many more.
