I barely need to write this review at all, given Mike at Manic Pop Thrills has already hit the nail squarely on the head with his own thoughts on the subject.  He sums it all up perfectly in this one sentence: “Interpol are only on their third LP yet they sound like they’ve said all they have to say.”

It’s not that it’s a bad album or that Interpol suddenly sound crap, not by any means.  Basically, it’s just that they seemed to have distilled Turn on the Bright Lights into a more accessible version of itself when they wrote Antics.  And now they’ve done, well, er, pretty much the same again really.  Antics was not a step forward in itself in particular, although it was interesting to see them morph into a slightly catchier, more radio-friendly version of themselves.  This album could easily have been culled from the Antics sessions.

Basically it’s still enjoyable to listen to and there are some cracking new songs, but in the sheer lack of progress or ambition or sign of them challenging themselves in the slightest, it still manages to seem rather disappointing.  Interpol sounded briefly like they could have conquered the universe, but it turns out they’re just another decent indie-pop act.  This would never seem half as bad as it does had they not threatened to be as good as they did.  They suffer, simply, from having written a debut album it appears they just can’t live up to.

Maybe the best thing to do is stick a few of these songs on a playlist by themselves here and there.  It will probably make them seem a bit less like the same old thing.

Interpol – Pioneer to the Falls
Interpol – Mammoth

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