Written 28th August 2014:
Interpol – El Pintor
The Band: Paul Banks (lead vocals/guitar), Dan Kessler (lead guitar/vocals), Sam Fogarino (drums)
Well early September sees the long-awaited return of New York City descendants and sharp suit-wearing Interpol with their fifth studio album ‘El Pintor’ a suspicious-looking album title which translates from Spanish as ‘The Painter’. The album is released on the 8th September but the band are currently streaming the album early via the NPR Music website below, so go check it out:
The band have built a core, dedicated following with their edgy, atmospheric and distinctive post-punk sound over the past ten years building up from their incredible debut album ‘Turn on the Bright Lights’ (see Flynndie Reviews #15 for more on that, the only record that has previously been given a perfect 10 on this blog) to their latest release, 2010’s eponymously titled ‘Interpol’. Sandwiched in-between was their very solid second album ‘Antics’ released in 2004 with well-known hits ‘Evil’ and ‘Slow Hands’, followed by 2007’s ‘Our Love To Admire’. So with four fine records under the belts from the band from The Big Apple, the big question is then how does ‘El Pintor’ shape up?
El Pintor
1. All the Rage Back Home
3. Anywhere
4. Same Town, New Story
5. My Blue Supreme
6. Everything Is Wrong
7. Breaker 1
8. Ancient Ways
9. Tidal Wave
10. Twice as Hard
Recently previewed on live tours earlier this year ‘All the Rage Back Home’ gets ‘El Pintor’ up and running with tingling slide-guitar notes from Dan Kessler teasing away while backed with Paul’s softly-sung vocals, before the track kicks into full-flow after about 45-seconds “She said you don’t need time/Be tame you won’t need your mate inside/My faith won’t lie” and the track continues to build before reaching it’s full-stride before the track-title’s chorus “I keep falling maybe half the time/And it’s all the rage back home/All the rage back home”. It’s a track that coasts and flows effortlessly and gets the record off to a fine start. Launching with trademark, angular guitars ‘My Desire’ is more of a steady burner of a track, featuring duelling, shimmering guitars between Paul and Dan accompanied by a steady drum-rhythm from Sam with angst lyrics to be found here “In my desire, I’m a frustrated man/Some of us ask for peace, do what we can”. This is a more familiar haunting, atmospheric type of track that the band are also well known for.
‘Anywhere’ is a good example of Interpol on fine-form. With an incredibly catching guitar-riff from
Dan pumping at its heart, further driven by thumping bass and percussion through
its veins before reaching a large crescendo of a chorus “The ocean…I could go anywhere/I could go anywhere/So free/It’s my
nature to want/I could go anywhere.”
‘Same Town, New Story’ eases the pace of the album again, with another
trademark Kessler melancholic guitar-riff laying the foundations for this
eerie, haunting track, a style of sound not too dissimilar to that found on
some of the tracks on their eponymous fourth album ‘Interpol’. With opening and subtle backing synths ‘My
Blue Supreme’ is another soft, gentle and thoughtful Interpol track which
continues its progression with synths being entwined by nice gentle guitar
riffs, while midway through the record ‘Everything Is Wrong’ is an initially
bass-driven track, perhaps harking back more to Interpol’s earlier sound from
their first two albums, slowly building with soft vocals from Paul and his
American accent coming through particularly stronger here on a catchy chorus
featuring the track-title repeated.
- Interpol headlined the NME Tour back in March
So overall ‘El Pintor’ in my opinion sees Interpol maintain
their fine, edgy, raw and moody post-punk sound with another album packed with songs
that each have charm, character and a story behind them. There are certainly some Interpol tracks here
that really show what the band are all about with their core-sound, in particular
early tracks ‘All the Rage Back Home’ and ‘Anywhere’ are two examples of
instantly catchy Interpol tracks. Throw
in some more subtle, slow-burning yet real thought-provoking tracks such as ‘My
Desire’, ‘Breaker 1’ and ‘Tidal Wave’ and a couple of highlights midway through the album with 'Same Town, New Story' and the epic 'My Blue Supreme' and this record really covers the full
experience of what you would hope to expect from an Interpol record and one
that perhaps finds the band rediscovering their sound and roots from earlier
Interpol albums yet not neglecting the charm of their two more recent
albums. I was lucky enough to catch the
band on the NME Tour earlier this year and felt at the time that the new
material showed real potential and I feel that ‘El Pintor’ doesn’t disappoint
and delivers another solid album from the New York three-piece so I’m going to
give this record a strong 8 out of 10 and would also suggest if you’re not too familiar
with Interpol’s sound, this album would actually be a good starting point to
get into them with.
Oh and hopefully by now you will have noticed that the suspicious-looking album title ‘El Pintor’ also doubles as an anagram of a certain New York band…
All the Rage Back Home
FlynnyTrack 1 – ‘All the Rage Back Home’
Track 9 - ‘Ancient Ways’
Band website:
