Review: Interpol - El Pintor
By Jordan Matthiass, Contributor
[Matador, 2014]
Rating: 6.5/10
Key Tracks: “Everything is Wrong,” “Breaker 1,” “Tidal Wave”
Once upon a time, Interpol was the darling of New York’s post-punk revivalist scene. After releasing 2002’s Turn on the Bright Lights, the band enjoyed enormous critical acclaim and cultural permeance. It was hard to turn anywhere--film, radio, television--without hearing a driving, bombastic single like “PDA” or “Obstacle 1.”
Interpol’s sophomore effort, Antics, was a surprisingly mediocre dilution of its predecessor. The disappointments continued with the even worse Our Love to Admire and the worse still Interpol, two tragedies of overwrought attitude from the originators of a genre facing its second death. Bassist Carlos Dengler left the band after Interpol, which probably seemed like a good move after its reviews started pouring in.
With 2014’s El Pintor, the band has crafted a lean collection of driving, pounding exercises in post-punk. It's Interpol’s first good product in a while, even better when compared to the rest of their post-Bright Lights output.
The album gets right down to business with the dancey “All the Rage Back Home,” which immediately assures the listener that nouveau Interpol is allowed to write a track that can be both upbeat and good, something older Interpol could never do.
“My Desire” follows the enthusiasm of “All the Rage,” but differs on one very important tenet: this song starts the trend of including repetitive guitar work, annoying due to sheer overuse. It’s still a fresh sound when “My Desire” hits the hard stuff, thank goodness.
“Anywhere” has the most headbang-ready chorus on this album, with deliberate guitar and equally thoughtful drum kicks cycling forward and backward, creating a trancelike, stomping strut. The theme of looping rhythm continues in the next two tracks “Same Town, New Story” and “My Blue Supreme,” the two worst cuts from El Pintor. It’s all build-up with no payoff. Yawn.
Continuing into its second half, El Pintor finally starts to assert itself as Interpol’s comeback. Things get back on track with “Everything Is Wrong,” a lofty, emotionally-charged stunner featuring offbeat songwriting evocative of 2002 Interpol. Shoegaze swirl is puked over the high end by the first triumphantly pedal-heavy track on this record.
Skulls crack from the heavy, miraculously angsty backbone of “Breaker 1” which mutates over its running time to culminate in the best finale of probably any Interpol track ever. Well, save for track number nine from this album.
Radio-friendliness seeps into “Ancient Ways,” a declaration of progress (“Fuck the ancient ways”) a decade in the making. Interpol here posit that it’s living on its own terms; but if this was the case, why does this track sound so much like a single recorded for a quick buck?
And then “Tidal Wave” hits like, well, a tidal wave. There is fuzz aplenty here, drowning out everything in a warm, wonderful way. Interpol goes full-on effect crazy, throwing out insane, lasery synths in the final bits of this one. Those zaps are so Interpol and so good.
El Pintor, sadly, stops being a hellstorm of reputation revival when “Twice as Hard,” a closer built on clichés, starts. Pianos? Fades in and out? Minimal lyrics? It’s all here and sure to make you roll your eyes.
There’s no debating that El Pintor is a comeback album. The first half may be a bit rough at points, but the second is a great exhibition of Interpol’s old and new talents. Like lasers, which are an undisputably-excellent talent. Here’s hoping the follow-up to this record is even better and can truly give Turn on the Bright Lights a run for its money.
