Interpol - Our Love to Admire

The New York City foursome Interpol released their debut album Turn on the Bright Lights back in 2002 and instantly became a household name in the indie community. Turn on the Bright Lights was received so well by critics it not only topped Best Debut album lists but most Best Album of 2002 lists as well. I first heard this album through my older brother’s recommendation (I would discover a lot of music this way). Once I heard it I would borrow it everyday and listen to it on the bus to school. I don’t want to go as far to say that this album changed my life but it certainly had a significant impact on what would become my taste in music and led me on a path to discovering bands that have become my favourites.

Interpol are back with their third album, Our Love to Admire, the follow-up to 2004’s Antics. The band stays true to their old habits and opens the album with an atmospheric masterpiece. The first tracks of both Bright Lights and Antics are both characterized with haunting, echoing instruments and the same is true for “Pioneer to the Falls”. Undoubtedly the strongest track on the whole album, it is very reminiscent of the dark tone that graced the bands debut. The public first got a look at this song through a YouTube video of the song being played live several months ago. Due to its similarities to some tracks from Bright Lights the video generated hype for the album because many fans, being somewhat disappointed with Antics, longed for the band to return to the dark atmospheres of Turn on the Bright Lights. While they did not exactly get what they wanted, Our Love to Admire is not by any means a failure. The disc contains some of the best songs the band has ever written including of course “Pioneer to the Falls”, the single “The Heinrich Maneuver” and the soothing “The Lighthouse”. While not technically an artistic breakthrough, mid album track “Mammoth” is one of my personal favourites on the album, containing both the drum focused rock found on Antics and the slower beautiful guitar melodies that launched the bands career.

Unfortunately for them, Interpol are a band that is doomed to always have their albums be compared to and never to top their debut, much like the Strokes and their 2001 debut Is This It? and The Arcade Fire with Funeral. I believe that many other critics who reviewed this album and labeled it as an unsuccessful rehash of previous songs don’t realize that Interpol have found their sound and aren’t going to change something they are comfortable with. In my opinion, Interpol wouldn’t be Interpol without the rhythmic beats of drummer Sam Fogarino, groovy bass lines of Carlos D, intricate guitar work of Daniel Kessler and the dreary vocals from Paul Banks.