<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While listening to Interpol\u2019s self-titled fourth album for the first time, a song came on that caught my attention. It was upbeat and familiar, and I thought \u201cfinally, a song I can embrace.\u201d But then I quickly realized the song’s album title was mislabeled, and it was actually from the band\u2019s previous album Our Love to Admire.<\/p>\n
So I went back and listened to Interpol again to see if I missed something. I didn\u2019t\u2026 but the band sure did.<\/p>\n
Sure, Interpol is derivative, aping Joy Division and Echo & The Bunnymen for a sound you\u2019ve heard before, but damn if the band doesn\u2019t fill albums with catchy hooks. What made Interpol was those thrilling moments in their songs \u2014 the arpeggios in PDA, the pop snare on Evil \u2014 that you find in no other post-punk revival band.<\/p>\n
But this self-titled effort is a long sad dirge. The opening track, inaptly named \u201cSuccess,\u201d feels like it\u2019s going to rise but never does, flowing into the five-minute \u201cMemory Serves\u201d (which I’d just as soon forget). \u201cLights,\u201d the album\u2019s first single, has some solid moments and perks up the album a bit, as does \u201cBarricade\u201d with its sing-along chorus and churning guitar.<\/p>\n
But then the aptly-named \u201cAlways Malaise (The Man I Am)\u201d sends the album into a tailspin from which it never recovers. The final two tracks, \u201cAll of The Ways\u201d and \u201cThe Undoing,\u201d combine for 10 minutes of bland indulgence, bringing a painful end to an album lacking potential and might.<\/p>\n
I questioned bassist Carlos D\u2019s decision when he left the band earlier this year, but maybe he had it right. If this is what Interpol has in mind going forward, it is time to move on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While listening to Interpol\u2019s self-titled fourth album for the first time, a song came on that caught my attention. It was upbeat and familiar, and I thought \u201cfinally, a song I can embrace.\u201d But then I quickly realized the song’s album title was mislabeled, and it was actually from the band\u2019s previous album Our Love […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1452,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[92],"class_list":["post-1451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-interpol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1451"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1453,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1451\/revisions\/1453"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}