First Look: Interpol – “Interpol”

In a year of name-brand indie acts stubbornly refusing to release genuinely great material, Interpol’s Interpol might be the most disheartening yet. It sounds, as expected, like Interpol: Cavernous, pulsating guitars; drums spattering like rain on car hoods; enough atmosphere to choke a horse; and singer Paul Banks rehearsing for his Phantom of the Opera audition. Like all their albums, it’s extremely competent, but unlike the increasingly distant high-water mark Turn on the Bright Lights, it doesn’t feel alive — it feels like Frankenstein, stitched up and electrified without any of nature’s spark.

(Interpol is out on Matador on Sept. 7)