Sometimes I worry that we all take a band like Interpol for granted. When they emerged from New York City streets in 2002 with Turn on the Bright Lights, they proved that the Strokes’ Is This It the previous year was not a flash in the pan. They laid groundwork for their friends Yeah Yeah Yeahs to release Fever to Tell a year later and complete the trifecta: the post-punk revival was real and it was going to change rock music for the 21st century. And it did – in large part, because of Interpol.
When everyone else was preoccupied with the death of grunge, still dressed in ripped-up denim and dirty flannel, Interpol created a new aesthetic of pressed suits, skinny ties, and a noir sensibility. Even more monumental than that – they created a signature sound. Sure, they drew strong comparisons to Joy Division in both vocals and tone, but Paul Banks, Daniel Kessler, Carlos D, and Sam Fogarino emerged so fully formed as a quartet of young 20-somethings that they accidentally formed a new genre of music.
And still, 16 years later, their signature sound persists. Marauder, the band’s sixth studio album, sounds like nothing but Interpol through and through.
Marauder’s most recent single and opening track “If You Really Love Nothing” defines Interpol’s signature sound quite well for those who’ve never heard it. Melodic guitars and snare-heavy rhythmic percussion pair beautifully with Paul Banks’ immediately recognizable moody baritone. With a single note played, the tone for the record is set: atmospheric noir comes to life. Somehow, you can almost hear the band’s color palette of black, white, and red as the bassline slithers around you.
The cigarette-and-smoke-filled music video for the track — which features actors Kristen Stewart and Finn Whitrock in dizzying and electric roles — captures the cinematic quality of that signature sound so perfectly that you can’t help but listen to Marauder as if it were a film score. Each song seamlessly bleeds into the next as we follow a mysterious storyteller painting evocative images onto the mind of his listeners.
Paul Banks recognizes the record’s cinematic tendencies, recently telling NPR that lead single “The Rover” and album highlight “Complications” “exist in the same world – in the same movie. If ‘The Rover’ were walking through the desert on an acid trip, then ‘Complications’ is the song playing in the jukebox of the dive bar where he winds up — the come-down at sundown.” Daniel Kessler’s ever-present guitar work and Sam Fogarino’s explosive drums provide “The Rover” with an upbeat energy that winds down to a sexy and brooding place on “Complications.” When Banks’ dreamily sings, “Oh, what’ll it be / It goes on and on / On the street, hey / It’s like a blindness,” the abstract sentiments affect you like a memorable line in a great movie.
The record is strongest when the main players are allowed their unique moment in the spotlight. “Stay in Touch” is wry with Fogarino’s jazzy and sophisticated cymbal work and “Party’s Over” proves how haunting his drums can sound when they have a moment to breathe. Banks also gets to sing the best lyric of the whole record on that one: “Rock ‘n’ roll bitch, I’m into it / I like to show you my stuff.” Occasionally, Marauder’s production winds each instrument so tightly together that it becomes difficult to isolate them, much to the detriment of the talented musician playing it.
“Number 10,” the record’s second single that almost didn’t make the cut at all, according to Banks, is a perfect example of how Kessler’s guitar – once isolated – wonderfully dances of its own accord, providing just the slightest amount of raw feedback before diving headfirst into a familiar melodic story. The guitarist, likewise, has never sounded better than on “Flight of Fancy;” Kessler’s intricate plucking pairs wonderfully with Banks’ distant vocals, sounding as if the singer were floating above the rhythm on his own flight of fancy.
“Mountain Child,” a true standout on Marauder, proves that Banks is more than capable of filling the shoes of former member Carlos D when it comes to handling the bass. His seductive and slinky basslines – as well as Fogarino’s explosive drums – pull you in so close on this particular track that you almost feel yourself being transported to a dark and dingy club somewhere in Brooklyn. You’re in the room with them, a character acting out a scene in the noir they’ve created.
Album closer “It Probably Matters” transports you even further, conjuring images of the seaside through delicate harmonies and key changes that feel monumental. Banks’ vocals sound utterly divine on this track, correcting the problem from earlier, as the production brings his voice to the forefront instead of flattening it over the other instruments.
Interestingly, the strength of Marauder is also its greatest weakness. So much of this cinematic story bleeds into itself that a significant amount of it ends up sounding the same. “Surveillance” covers much of the same ground of better songs from the band’s previous record, 2014’s El Pintor. Banks describes “NYSMAW” as an “easy breezy pop rocker,” but it feels weightier than breezy; it’s also something we’ve already heard before. Two separate one-minute interludes float around the second half of the record, and I still question how much they add to the whole.
Marauder — like a good but not great film — is full of wonderful moments and beautiful scenes that, on their own, completely mesmerize but aren’t strong enough to carry the weight of a weak story. The three characters crafting that story undoubtedly have talent, but resort too often to what is safe and familiar. The pitfall of having such a strong signature sound like Interpol’s is that it becomes easy to exclusively rely on it. They don’t need to reinvent an entire genre of rock music yet again, but Interpol can stand to take more chances and become marauders themselves.
Rating: 7 / 10
Highlights: “If You Really Love Nothing,” “Mountain Child,” “Number 10,” “It Probably Matters”
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