Interpol

Gone is the simple sensibility of black, red and white -- the urbane New Yorkers shine their gloom through a prism on their first major label release, Our Love to Admire, as indicated by that unruly cover. Wavering between romanticism and candidness, frontman Paul Banks is as somber as ever as he acquaints listeners with his emotional turbulence, but a heavy addition of keyboards and textured instrumentation lend a wiry, spry intensity not heard from the band before. It's their rawest constructions that impress the most, like the numbingly gorgeous closing track, "The Lighthouse."

Interpol seemed to burst from the forehead of David Bowie circa 2001, a New Wave
nightmare come true: glittery goth guitars, an animal-nitrate rhythm section, Paul Banks'
brilliantly idiotic poetry and the funniest gay-bullfighter fashion crimes since Bryan Ferry
discovered capri pants. These days, the night-crawling New York boys are sounding a lot
like R.E.M., and Our Love to Admire is their version of R.E.M.'s Fables of the Reco... More >