Interpol

Related Content

• Dark Wave
  November 17, 2011
• Celebrate National Novel Writing Month with Five Musician/Novelists
  November 1, 2011
• First Baseball, Now Basketball: Five Say It Ain't So Songs
  October 12, 2011
• The Five Real Reasons R.E.M. Broke Up
  September 22, 2011
• Grinderman: Grinderman 2
  October 5, 2010

More About

• Interpol (Musical Group)
• Paul Banks
• Nick Cave
• R.E.M.
• Explosions in the Sky

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Music Newsletter: Keep your thumb on the local music scene with music features, additional online music listings and show picks. We'll also send special ticket offers and music promotions available only to our Music Newsletter subscribers.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

Interpol's major label debut, Our Love to Admire, isn't as monochrome (or monotonous) as its previous two albums. "Pioneer to the Falls" is arguably the richest song they've ever recorded, a track that channels the stormy textures of the Cure's Pornography. Death-march piano and woodwinds add counter-melodies, a giant quivering mass of strings swells in the middle section, and horns pipe in at the end. As usual, vocalist Paul Banks presides over this song like a stern preacher peering at his congregation — although elsewhere, the forceful, R.E.M.-like "Mammoth" finds the stentorian singer breaking a sweat, and he's in creepy-boyfriend mode on the cinematic highlight "No I in Threesome." In fact, Admire often resembles a movie score. Nearly three minutes into "Wrecking Ball," the song nearly stops dead and continues as a quasi-instrumental. Mournful guitar, synths and horns (along with faint vocals) slowly build and wind around each other like an Explosions in the Sky song. The understated "Lighthouse" is just as lush. Reminiscent of Nick Cave's somber sea-songs, it's slow, and it sonically resembles the quiet peace of sleeping on a boat in the middle of a lake. In short, Admire covers the entire black-through-white palette, instead of just a few shades of gray.