Interpol - 'Our Love To Admire' first listen

da NME.com:

Interpol continued their return with their first UK show in nearly two years tonight (May 15).

Watched by the likes of Klaxons, Dirty Pretty Things and Hard-Fi, the New Yorkers showcased tracks from their forthcoming album 'Our Love To Admire' during the gig at KOKO.

Opening with 'Pioneer To The Falls', the band also played 'Mammoth' and 'The Heinrich Manuever' from the record, which is due out in July.

Though speaking little during the gig, singer Paul Banks thanked the crowd after the latter declaring, "that was 'The Heinrich Manuever', thank you. It's great to be back in London".

Interpol played:

'Pioneer To The Falls'
'Obstacle 1'
'NARC'
'Say Hello To The Angels'
'Take You On A Cruise'
'Mammoth'
'Slow Hands'
'Leif Erikson'
'The Heinrich Manuever'
'Evil'
'Not Even Jail'
'Length Of Love'
'Stella Was A Diver And She Was Always Down'
'PDA'

In this week's NME we were the first to tun the rule over Interpol's new album ‘Our Love To Admire’. Here now is an extended version

continued...

‘Pioneer To The Falls’
Sinister notes, picked out on a knife-edge guitar immediately transport us back into Interpol’s nighthawk world. However with a delicate piano and Paul Bank’s mile-wide vocals, this almost bluesy stomper heralds a warmer record as the lyrics contemplate nature and what “the soul can take”.

‘No I in Threesome’
Beginning with menacing bass, driving guitars unexpectedly deliver a surprisingly jaunty tune. Sounding optimistic, the chorus even contains a jokey pun: “babe it’s time we give something new a try/ alone we may fight/ so let us be three tonight”.

‘The Scale’
Dominated by Daniel Kessler’s hammering guitar, the song scales up and down with an un-nerving precision as the words find Interpol in a vengeful mood. “You think you know us now wait until our stars come out” warns Banks before adding “I made you now I take you back”.

‘The Heinrich Maneuver’
The working title has made the cut, but this does not encourage gut wrenching, as instead an urgent, hip-swinging beast emerges. Potential indie anthem of the future.

‘Mammoth’
Exploding right from the off, Banks steps back from his booming baritone for the first time, as in tender tones he pleads “spare me the suspense”, over a heart-pulsing mesh of slashing guitars and claustrophobic drums.

‘Pace is the Trick’
A classical brittle Interpol opening, with solitary guitars, then vocals before the song breaks fully into widescreen. It’s reminiscent of ‘Antics’, but producer Rich Costey’s touch leaves it feeling bigger and bolder than its predecessors.

‘All Fired Up’
Based around a deceptively raunchy rift, the song finds Interpol sounding surprising raw. With colliding basses, studio handclaps, the be-have suited New Yorkers loosened their waistcoats and let rip.

‘Rest My Chemistry’
On first album track ‘Say Hello To Angels’, Interpol were infused by The Smiths’ ‘This Charming Man’. Here the guitar part of the ‘Pixies’ ‘Where Is My Mind’ gets similar homage, but re-imagined into a sinister setting Frank Black shouldn’t mind. A stately, hardworking epic.

‘Who Do You Think?’
Like driving fast over the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan at three in the morning, this is exhilarating, exciting, relentless and slightly foreboding. Choppy guitars and pounding rhythms make Banks’ booming voice sound invincible.

‘Wrecking Ball’
With the band sounding graceful and gentle, the singer now sounds remorseful, confessing to destructive tendencies. “Nobody warned you/ Nobody told you to make up your mind/ Nobody told you, that I could just waltz through and shake up your style,” he sings. “I’m inside like a wrecking ball in your eyes”

‘The Lighthouse’
After cagey, hesitant opening with distant guitars and whispered vocals, deep piano notes emerge creating a rising and falling feel that manages to invoke a strong rainy storm with the minimal of musical touches. The closer then reaches a thunderous climax as bass and drums crash in, providing an unexpected ending, but one that showcases Interpol’s broadened horizons.
Paul Stokes