Interpol (album)

Recording

Recording started in early spring of 2009. The band announced that they were writing new songs in March of that year.

Critical reception

Interpol received a weighted score of 66 out of 100 from review aggregate website Metacritic, indicating "generally favourable reviews", based on 22 reviews from music critics AnyDecentMusic? shows a rating of 6.3 based on 33 reviews. Victoria Segal of Q awarded the album four out of five stars, stating that "Paul Banks's vocals as attention-grabbing as a hand on the back of the neck while subtle textures rub up against the drama of the guitars" and concluded by saying that "for a band who specialise in the dark, their touch is thankfully light". Chris Coplan from Consequence of Sound gave the album four stars out of five, praised the "rich narrative" and "brilliant pacing found throughout the record" and described it as "a story that builds from an emotionally-resilient semi-joyousness in the beginning [...] to creepy, morose, and sinister by the end".

Simon Vozick-Levinson of Entertainment Weekly felt that on Interpol "the riffs [...] are grander, the rhythms more limber, and the melodies more memorably moody than they've been in years" and stated that "lapsed fans may be surprised to find themselves reminded of why they loved this band in the first place". Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone called it "a surprisingly solid comeback" and praised Daniel Kessler's guitar as "the essence of arty post-punk romance". In an early track-by-track review of the album, Paul Stokes of NME wrote that the band is "as atmospheric and dark as they were on their debut, and yet more intricate, and - as the trumpets prove - orchestral". Later, Mark Robinson of the same magazine gave the album six out of ten and said it "Interpol seems cinematic, abstract and complex, but that adds up to something interesting rather than thrilling."

Mikael Wood of The Village Voice gave it a favorable review and said Interpol "manage[s] the seemingly unmanageable task of finding new wrinkles in a tightly defined sound, one that's been theirs for nearly a decade." Justin Jacobs of Paste gave the album a score of 7.3 out of ten and stated, "Though the record meanders into aimless moping in its final third, most of the 10 tracks are bold, heavy and among Interpol's best." Jim Scott of Under the Radar gave it seven stars out of ten and said that the album "restores some of the shine, but the music still feels softer somehow, the cuts not as precise." Ian Wade of BBC Music also gave it a positive review and stated: "There's still the chance that this album will finally push [Interpol] into the stratosphere -- you wish Interpol were globally huge, you really do -- although it's likely that their future won't be written until after Dengler's tour-replacements have helped broaden the band's palette more."

Other reviews are average or mixed: Yahoo! Music UK gave the album six stars out of ten and stated, "Instead of ending tensely and dramatically [Interpol] are the final whimper and sigh of an album named after a band that have lost their way and aren't sure which direction they should be heading." Alternative Press also gave the album three stars out of five and said, "Even if Banks sticks to the "I've got two secrets but I only told you one" songwriting approach, hopefully a band shakeup will spark the soulfulness only occasionally heard in his contributions." Will Dean of The Guardian also gave it three stars out of five and said that "It could be that [Interpol are] distracted -- they've been together 10 years, and have numerous solo projects; is there more to for them to do with Interpol?"

Paul Schrodt of Slant Magazine gave the album two-and-a-half stars out of five and said that it "may not be quite self-parody, but it's also not the sort of thing that's going to make [the band] hip again anytime soon. Not that they would even care."

Benjamin Boles from NOW gave the album three stars out of five, saying that the band does not sound "exactly eclectic in mood, sound or even tempo" and noticing that "the best moments come when they shy away from their trademark wall-of-reverb blueprint". He concluded by saying that "it’s a better album than their last, and diehard fans should be satisfied, but it’s not going to get the rest [...] very excited". Josh Modell of Spin gave the album a score of five out of ten and found it "more dull than hypnotic". He felt that "it tries to assemble skyscrapers, but ends up muddling around without a strong foundation" and noticed that Interpol sounds "both strangely distant and overly familiar, like a band struggling to remember who they are". Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune described it as "bits and pieces of promising music without strong foundations", and stated that although "the band sounds terrific", the album does not offer "more than one or two truly memorable songs".

Track listing

All tracks written by Interpol.

Personnel

Charts

To date, the album has sold around 400,000 copies worldwide.