Interpol have had a rough year. First they lost Carlos D, then their tour was cancelled. Their comeback seemed to be falling apart before it had gained any traction. Regardless, their album had been completed, and there was comfort to be taken in the notion that all of their recent tribulations were after the fact. The music wouldn’t suffer. It could speak for itself.
After 2007’s sterile Our Love to Admire, the teaser off their forthcoming self-titled release indeed sounds like the Interpol of old, though slightly more refined. It’s a case of style over substance with all of your standard post-punk fixings. There’s the droning guitar line; the sparse, slowly climaxing arrangement; Paul Bank’s bemusing and occasionally clumsy lyrics; and a prominent rhythm section. This is also Interpol at their darkest. The song writhes through macabre vocal arrangements, culminating into the unsettling final lyric: “that’s why I hold you.” The real standout here is Sam Fogarino’s fantastic percussion. It arrives in measured doses, guiding the guitars through a vast soundscape with assertive dexterity.
