Interpol - Marauder
This is exactly the album I have been waiting for all summer. Not that I was highly anticipating Interpol's new releases, but instead waiting for a genuinely surprising album. Judging by the career arc of this band, as well as the indie music scene of 2018 for classic bands like Interpol, I was not expecting something so powerful to fall into my lap. The many bands falling prey to accessibility over quality have clearly followed a different path in recent years. These others have diminished to focus on singles and streaming numbers, trying to recapture something that is quickly becoming lost to them. Interpol, however, has already tried to fashion the most accessible hooks into their music; they have passed their time for attempting this route.
Now, they seek to join the other post-punk bands of 2018, old and new, that have made this one of the best recent years for the genre. Here's some backstory: the band had certainly been on an uptick following the wildly uneven Our Love to Admire (2007). And while the band's last release, El Pintor (2014), was a great distillation of the bands sound, it was missing exactly what Marauder brings to the table: a truly inspired and raw reach back to the essential Turn on the Bright Lights (2002). Marauder pushes the band's music further and harder than it has been for 15 years. The blend urgency and atmosphere in openers "If You Really Love Nothing" and the excellent first single "The Rover" show the band in top form, fitting in well with the much younger generation of jaded indie punks.
Later, the album tracks like "Stay in Touch" and "Party's Over" add significant emotional depth and complexity that does not take away from the overall fervency of the album. As per the norm of great post-punk albums, all the rage and darkness burbles just under the surface, not showing all its cards at once as in pop music. Second single "Number 10" does this wonderfully, and the result is definitely an essential Interpol track. This tension unfolds and reveals the beauty and importance of the album over the course of its 44 minutes, only showing pieces at any given moment to add to its ultimate catharsis.
Luckily, these emotional displays do not have any sense of finality or conclusion so I would guess that the band does not see this as either a comeback or endpoint to their career. I would guess they saw their own brilliance in Turn on the Bright Lights, noticed the works of new bands like Shame, Frigs, and Moaning, as well as modern classics like Shopping, Iceage, and Protomartyr, and realized that invigoration was necessary for their own sake. It's rare that a band settles into its own without resorting to complacency, and fans of the band and the thoroughly excellent genre should thank them for the extra effort.
Now, they seek to join the other post-punk bands of 2018, old and new, that have made this one of the best recent years for the genre. Here's some backstory: the band had certainly been on an uptick following the wildly uneven Our Love to Admire (2007). And while the band's last release, El Pintor (2014), was a great distillation of the bands sound, it was missing exactly what Marauder brings to the table: a truly inspired and raw reach back to the essential Turn on the Bright Lights (2002). Marauder pushes the band's music further and harder than it has been for 15 years. The blend urgency and atmosphere in openers "If You Really Love Nothing" and the excellent first single "The Rover" show the band in top form, fitting in well with the much younger generation of jaded indie punks.
Later, the album tracks like "Stay in Touch" and "Party's Over" add significant emotional depth and complexity that does not take away from the overall fervency of the album. As per the norm of great post-punk albums, all the rage and darkness burbles just under the surface, not showing all its cards at once as in pop music. Second single "Number 10" does this wonderfully, and the result is definitely an essential Interpol track. This tension unfolds and reveals the beauty and importance of the album over the course of its 44 minutes, only showing pieces at any given moment to add to its ultimate catharsis.
Luckily, these emotional displays do not have any sense of finality or conclusion so I would guess that the band does not see this as either a comeback or endpoint to their career. I would guess they saw their own brilliance in Turn on the Bright Lights, noticed the works of new bands like Shame, Frigs, and Moaning, as well as modern classics like Shopping, Iceage, and Protomartyr, and realized that invigoration was necessary for their own sake. It's rare that a band settles into its own without resorting to complacency, and fans of the band and the thoroughly excellent genre should thank them for the extra effort.
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