Interpol’s new album stalks darker ground.

A specter is haunting record stores, the specter of Interpol’s new release. New York City indie veterans Interpol released their fourth, self-titled album Tuesday on Matador records, ameliorating fans thirsting for a follow-up to 2007’s Our Love to Admire, with a few interesting sonic endeavors. .

Interpol

Interpol grazes themes touching the misgivings of fractured relationships, obsession and despair that give way to introspection. Singer Paul Banks once again delivers with his bass bellows and tenor croons that have come to shape and define the sound of the quartet throughout the past years.

The post-punk quartet renew their aural vows with Banks and Daniel Kessler’s famous inter-locking synched up guitars, Sam Fogarino’s syncopated drums and driving bass lines, courtesy of Carlos Dengler who recently left the band.

 This album is noticeably darker in composition than previous recordings. Minor tonalities and Banks deep voice instigate a somber mood that intrigues and hypnotizes listeners with its organic quality. Backing piano notes and rolls cement suspense alongside the eerie reverb-drenched strings. The record’s cover sporting the band’s pulverized name logo cast against a black and bleak background helps set the mood for the music to come.

Though the melodic coloring of their compositions still solid, the band has shifted toward a different song structuring. Their staple adventurous arrangements and intricate, if not eclectic, harmonic progressions have been eschewed in favor of more expansive compositions which breathe and grow rather than progress towards an end. Though these tracks are laden with gestating rhythms, some of the songs tend to lack a certain flavor that makes the expansion worthwhile, and the lack of more exciting instrumentation outside the traditional rock ensemble doesn’t help either.

Without the challenging arrangements of previous albums, the albums flows more relaxed. Though at times the band seems to have a tad of difficulty easing into an easier pace, the overall production balances ethereal voicings with nimble bass thumps and tight percussion very well.

Don’t be fooled, some tracks more than makeup for these discrepancies. “Lights” polices through a building progression with extreme prejudice thanks to the help of alternating echoing guitars and a foreboding, dirge-like motif that appears at times to carry the spectral croons  of Banks’ “That’s why I hold you dear”. The last tracks “All of  the Ways” ghosts through with an obsessive if not controlling speaker and “The Undoing” closes the record with the haunting premonitions of the end of a love, switching between Spanish and English .“I was on my way/ Chasing my damage” is Banks’ agon, a battle at ends with himself where the quest of self-destruction is the only way to undo the otherwise unsolvable face off.

Old-school Interpol fans fret not, the single “Barricade” will keep diehards happy with their more traditional up-beat drumming, danceable guitar riffs and bass raffs as well as their renowned sing-a-long anthemic chorus that break the tense-ridden verses of other staple Interpol songs.

Interpol have crafted yet another good album, with a more menacing sound while still preserving their classic style, keeping fans appeased while bringing something to the mix. Though the records trips over itself at times and can feel a little directionless without their tight and complex arrangements, the record pulls through with catchy hooks and hypnotic compositions. Interpol does not disappoint, and their new twists will keep the fans at bay for the time being.

 Originally published in the Puerto Rico Daily Sun, Sep. 11, 2010: magic motherfucker.