INTERPOL - Our Love To Admire

Three years on from the controversial “Antics“, which had split critics and audiences alike, Interpol release this “Our Love To Admire”. The New York quartet thus arrives at their long-awaited third effort. And the question has to be asked: will it be a resurgence, or a flattening into their now well-established standards? News of the band signing to a major label had raised fears of the worst. And the precedent set by Sigur Rós's “Takk” certainly wasn't encouraging. Still, at the very least, the test of renewal is passed. The new record does, in fact, differ substantially from its predecessor.

No radical turn, however, in the band's career. Rather, “Our Love To Admire” comes across as a clear tribute from Interpol to their unforgettable debut, “Turn On The Bright Lights“. The pop-rock-wave standards of “Antics” are indeed partly set aside. Banks and co. dust off the keyboards, and the basses and guitars seem to glisten once again. The rather monotone mood of the second album, though never tedious, is dropped in favour of tracks that are quite distinct from one another, with a few stylistic missteps, some fairly glaring, but with a clear will to escape the impasse by wielding heterogeneity and dynamism as weapons. Kessler is as excellent as ever at sketching perfect geometric arcs, Fogarino's drums still pulse, and Banks's voice remains as vibrant and as distant as ever.

A challenge that can only be considered partly met, then, with a verdict of "see you next time".

“Pioneer To The Falls”, minimal and melancholy, opens the record as one of its most successful tracks. An almost atonal Banks, backed by guitars that never overstep and a Fogarino (once again) on top form, casts smoky atmospheres worthy of the best Joy Division, closing the track with a masterful surge of drums and keyboards in an epic finale. And while “No I in Threesome” is the usual, classic Interpol song, with a chill-inducing opening bass line, “Scale”, with noise reverbs worthy of early U2, leads into the single “Heinrich Maneuver”, which rides the catchy, hook-laden wake of the previous album's “Slow Hands” (accompanied, it should be said, by a quite hideous video).

The hurdle of the opening tracks is thus cleared with ease, but venturing into the record's midsection proves a rather disappointing adventure. “Mammoth” and “Pace Is the Trick” as much as “All Fired Up” come across as toothless, monotone from the very first guitar strike, and drag wearily on to the end. A very different story applies to the five-plus minutes of “Rest My Chemistry”, marked by a disorienting, almost gothic opening, onto which guitars graft themselves, swelling into genuine walls of noise. This is the essence of the rockier Interpol, the one most tied to their 80s roots. And while the ninth track, “Who Do You Think?”, turns out to be pure filler, both “Wrecking Ball” and “Lighthouse” sketch out uncharted territory for the quartet. A celestial flow of guitars, a disturbed-sounding Banks, a slow, measured close that becomes a chamber-music finale, and the psychedelic mantra of the last track are perhaps the manifesto of what Interpol could start to become — a possible turning point for a sound that, after five years of success, is starting to show a little wear.

Another passable effort, then, yet one left hanging in mid-air, undecided in its wish to pay homage to the past while hinting at a possible future. It remains to be seen whether the band will head towards that new, or at least more varied, sound glimpsed in “Our Love To Admire”, or whether they'll run aground on already well-trodden shores, which promise easy money but an equally easy disaffection among those who now expect Interpol to deliver a convincing restyling.

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30/06/2007