The jump from the somewhat dreamy and delightfully unpredictable Turn On The Bright Lights to a very dark and gritty Antics was clearly a big one, showing a huge change in the production. But from Antics to Our Love, there is hardly any jump at all as there is not much difference in the sound.
Predictable? Yes. But Our Love still has its own little personality. It is less dark and poppier than either Bright Lights or Antics. “The Heinrich Maneuver” is almost a disappointment as a single for fans that waited three long years for an album after Antics. A great song, nevertheless, but its liveliness and an “instant gratification” chorus almost give it a Killers appeal, which is something that the band should not be proud of. And if it is, then perhaps its members should quit making music and take up jobs as record store clerks in NYC.
True, Interpol was one of the first acts in the post punk/new wave revivalist movement, but amongst the slew of such acts that cannot recognize even their own songs form those of others, Interpol’s oozing gothic dispositions made them stand out. Any attempt to lighten this mascara is suicide.
The record’s gloomier side, as signified by tracks like “Pioneer To The Falls” and “Mammoth” stand up to the classiness of “Evil” or “Slow Hands” and the emotional “No I In Threesome” and “Peace Is The Trick” are as intensely beautiful as “Not Even Jail” and “NYC.”
No album by Interpol will ever match the brilliance of its first two records. Our Love is a promising effort by a band whose style is so restrictive that any half-decent record they make post-Antics should be considered a formidable effort. And for making a record that is much more than “half-decent,” Interpol has shown that it is still the most enduring derivative band that’s out there.