Interpol
Our Love to Admire
(Capitol/EMI)
Some bands you can love. Other bands you can admire. But with this fittingly titled CD, Interpol have become a band you can simultaneously fall for and respect.
You can admire these stylish NYC rockers for rising to the third-album challenge and delivering a strikingly ambitious and dramatic work.
Produced by Franz Ferdinand knobtwiddler Rich Costey, the 11-track Our Love to Admire takes the band's pointy-guitar post-punk into murkier waters, adding keyboards, spacious production, orchestral flourishes and atmospheric textures to fashion a set of brooding, theatrical moodscapes.
Simply put, this disc is dark enough to make the tense, Joy Division-based gloom of their first two albums seem, well, joyful.
Even so, you can still love Interpol - singer-guitarist Paul Banks, guitarist Daniel Kessler, drummer Sam Fogarino and enigmatic bassist-keyboardist Carlos Dengler - for taking their songs to the next level along with their sound.
Morose as many of these numbers are, they're also some of the most memorable tunes the band has crafted.
To put it another way: You can be seduced by this disc tonight and still respect yourself in the morning.
Pioneer to the Falls 5:41
Expecting an opening rocker? Think again. This yearning Bowiesque epic features a lethargic gait, an ominous bassline, guitars that could cut glass and piano tones that glint like icicles. By the time it all falls away - leaving a solo Banks begging "Show me the dirt pile and I will pray that the soul can take three stowaways" - it's clear the dance party has been cancelled.
No I in Threesome 3:50
"Babe, it's time we give something new a try," suggests Banks. Behind him, the band takes him at his word, as a gently insistent bassline and thumpy tom-toms meet shivery strings and a plinky piano. We're getting warmer.
The Scale 3:23
Slow, deep and just heavy enough to be menacing, this moody midtempo goth-rocker provides a suitably woozy, dreamlike backdrop for enigmatic lyrics about having a sequin for an eye and a sun that sleeps in clouds of fire.
The Heinrich Maneuver 3:28
After the swirly gloom of the first three songs, the record execs must have sighed with relief when they heard this punchy little rocker fuelled by a chugging, danceable groove and whistling guitars. No wonder it's the first single.
Mammoth 4:12
The driving beat, angry guitar and knife-edge guitars flirt with menace, but don't quite manage it. A pillowy mix that includes strings and bells - and proves there is such a thing as too much reverb - could be the culprit. But this does have the disc's best lyric: "It's enough with this f-ing incense. Just spare me the suspense."
Pace is the Trick 4:36
Sometimes the title says it all. This tense little gem evolves slowly and elegantly from a stark guitar line to a majestic, richly layered goth-rock complete with anthemic chorus.
All Fired Up 3:35
Sometimes the title doesn't say it all. While the guitar line is catchy and the beat is almost groovy enough to dance to, this hazy Echo and the Bunnymen-style rocker doesn't really get fired up until it's almost over.
Rest my Chemistry 5:00
"My friends they come and the lines they go by," says Banksy. And when all the lines and friends are gone, this languid, glammy ballad - with its plodding downbeat gait, slashing guitars and lumbering bassline - is the perfect soundtrack to a Sunday morning coming down.
Who do You Think? 3:12
What goes down has got to come up. And the chunky, urgent guitars and pounding, offbeat drums pick up the pace here. Banks seconds the emotion by vowing "Slow decay, I won't stop fighting you."
Wrecking Ball 4:30
Far less powerful and destructive than its title, this is a pretty ballad built from a heartbeat bass drum, weeping guitars, swirly strings and a chorus of angelic vocals.
The Lighthouse 5:20
Last but certainly not least. After a disc of surprises, Interpol close the show with one more - a stark, vaguely southwestern soundscape with ghostly flamenco guitars, a twangy melody and a sweeping spaghetti western vibe.
