Interpol: album reviews and ratings

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Reviews & Recommendations

	Interpol

Artist Listing:

S - Z

Line-up:
Paul Banks - vocals, guitar
Carlos Dengler - bass, keyboards
Samuel Fogarino - drums
Daniel Kessler - guitar

"Yes, they're from New York City and they wear sharp suits but thankfully this isn't another punk or post-punk 'play it loud!' release. The music does sound very American; images of driving through North American cities, late at night in the rain come to mind. This album is more mature and more inventive than recent so-called punk bands. The songs are frequently manic and frenzied but just before you burn out they slow down and become melodious.

-- Dan Tallis, bbc.co.uk

Interpol Discography - Album / CD Reviews

¾ 2002: Turn on the Bright Lights
"Interpol has an extraordinarily commanding presence for a band releasing its debut album. Its music is dark and tense with references both subtle and obvious, harking back to all the right bands. Honestly, all the talk of Joy Division puzzles me a bit; I hear far more Echo & The Bunnymen, Bauhaus, Television and even The Feelies than anything from Manchester's finest. Perhaps, it's just the deep, resonating vocals that generate such comparisons- well, that and lazy writers. Interpol eases you into its dark labyrinth of echoing guitars and fractured emotions on the heavy-lidded opener, Untitled. It's a gorgeously swaying melody, recalling early Jesus And Mary Chain and Disintegration-era Cure. Obstacle 1 reveals considerable muscle in its "Marquee Moon"-style guitar interplay, squashing any fears that Interpol might be a bunch of light-weights. Interpol wraps its catchy, well-constructed pop songs up in dark capes, but the tense, rocking edge keeps the "gothic" tag at bay. The urgency with which the band attacks each song is jarring- even the slow ones like NYC are tough and resilient. PDA is an astoundingly good rock song.... "

-- Eric Greenwood, DrawerB.com

½ 2004: Antics
Tracklisting: 1. No Exit 2. Evil 3. Narc 4. Take You On A Cruise 5. Slow Hands 6. Not Even Jail 7. Public Pervert 8. C'mere 9. Length Of Love 10. A Time To Be So Small

"Anyone expecting 'Bright Lights' part deux will be in for a surprise. From the opening, uplifting organ wash on Next Exit, the listener is put on notice that this is a different album. 'We ain't going to the town/we're going to the city' Paul Banks declares, informing us that we will be taking a slightly different path than expected. This is practically a party record. The songs carry a more focused energy, rarely embarking to the dark alleyways and unlit corridors that constituted a considerable portion of the last album. (...) There are definite Interpol moments, like Daniel Kessler's signature repetitive note overture 1:20 into Evil, but they don't dominate the album, a potential pitfall for any band that has a definite 'sound.' (...) Paul Banks confidence as a front man has greatly improved since their last effort, and is the biggest difference between albums. The eremitic hermit who hid behind great soundscapes has emerged after hundreds of shows and years of touring a self-assured sage, demanding us to 'take hold of your time here/give some meaning to the means/to your end.' Unfortunately, the lyrical output at times still has a cringe factor..."

-- booklover, The Beat Surrender, 9/04

¾ 2007: Our Love To Admire
Tracklisting: 1. Pioneer to the Falls 2. No I in Threesome 3. The Scale 4. The Heinrich Maneuver 5. Mammoth 6. Pace Is the Trick 7. All Fired Up 8. Rest My Chemistry 9. Who Do You Think 10. Wrecking Ball 11. The Lighthouse

"'Our Love To Admire', the third album from the dark-dressed New York band, and its first for Capitol after a career-defining pair for Matador, doesn't break stride. Rumors that the major-label jump would come accompanied by radio-enticing slickness weren't just exaggerated, they were plain wrong. For better and worse—mostly better—'Our Love' is unmistakably another Interpol disc. In other words, Internet chatters can keep saying that the band sounds exactly like Joy Division, and they'll still be pretty much half right. (And all boring.) 'Our Love To Admire' starts strong and ends weak, but leans toward the former through an economical 11 songs. Pioneer To The Falls, the opener, offers Interpol-by-numbers in the best way, with epic aspirations meeting spooky, smoky grandiosity; it builds and winds smartly to a climax, touching on each of the band's strengths. The album-closer, The Lighthouse, goes the other way: It's nothing but an overly simple guitar strum and Paul Banks' talk-sing, and it proves that, at least in this case, it's unwise to fix what ain't broke. Absolutely unbroken in between: the slick, rocking The Scale, the obvious single The Heinrich Maneuver, and the mammoth Mammoth, one of those Interpol songs in which the music makes Banks' sometimes questionable declaratives ("enough with this fucking incense!") sound great—almost sensible, even. And as with Interpol albums past, some songs beg to be skipped, including Lighthouse and the slightly groan-inducing No I In Threesome, which lyrically begs for its titular activity. But on the whole, 'Our Love To Admire' delivers exactly what's promised, which for fans will be exactly enough."

-- Josh Modell, avclub.com, 7/07

½ 2009: JULIAN PLENTI - Julian Plenti is ... Skyscraper
Tracklisting: 1. Only If You Run 2. Fun That We Have 3. Skyscraper 4. Games for Days 5. Madrid Song 6. No Chance of Survival 7. Unwind 8. Girl on the Sporting News 9. On the Esplanade 10. Fly as You Might 11. H

"Julian Plenti is Interpol singer-guitarist Paul Banks, a well-dressed dude who spearheaded an armada of other well-dressed dudes with Ian Curtis’ ghost on the brain. Interpol did it best up to a point, and Banks’ first full-length as Plenti—a pseudonym he put aside as Interpol began to make moves in 2001—is a collection of songs that might’ve been born in his main band’s margins. It’s a frustrating outing that wavers quietly between uninspired and surprisingly vibrant, middling and fantastic. While the opener, Only If You Run, enjoys a lot of the languid, low-end coloring that made Interpol’s early work so great, it still sounds like Interpol. The same can be said for the palm-muted chug of Fun That We Have, a vaguely industrial jam that boasts guitar tones more stale than serrated. But removed from its usual framework, Banks’ voice pops. The bent strings of Girl On The Sporting News recalls the nightshade folk-isms of Califone, and the bathroom fingerpicking of “On The Esplanade” is haunting in its own right. Unwind finds Banks at his most separatist, in an orchestral-pop celebration replete with horn hooks, synth choirs, and confetti showers."

-- David Bevan, avclub.com, 8/09

2010: Interpol
Tracklisting: 1. Success 2. Memory Serves 3. Summer Well 4. Lights 5. Barricade 6. Always Malaise (The Man I Am) 7. Safe Without 8. Try It On 9. All of the Ways 10. The Undoing 11. Crimewaves (iTunes Pre-Order Track)

"... I think Interpol have had their day by now. They’ve already gotten to the outer reaches of their musical limit. If you can’t stand this band to begin with, good luck trying to like this! Fans will probably find a few songs particularly worthy of attention. It’s not as terrible as the online community is making it out to be. It’s exhausted and boring with a few somewhat catchy hooks here and there. It drags. I’ve always been able to tolerate Interpol at their weakest, which may be why I’m attempting to stick up for them here. Lights has a good build-up and becomes pretty solid. Barricade is the most memorable and most catchy tune on this album."

-- Glen Maganzini, klyam.com, 8/10

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Recommended Links:

Interpol: Official page
Interpol on MySpace