release date: Aug. 24, 2018
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,65]
producer: Dave Fridmann
label: Matador - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 1. "If You Really Love Nothing" - 2. "The Rover" (4 / 5) - 3. "Complications" - 5. "Stay in Touch" - 7. "Mountain Child" - 8. "Nysmaw" (4 / 5) (live)
6th studio album by Interpol, who continues to release albums every four years and in the meantime stays very low. Here, they have put it in the hands of established producer Dave Fridmann. The band seems to regain its post-punk revival flair and do what they have proven to do best: play tight melody-based post-punk. Actually, the album sounds as made in the early 2000s and would easily have followed Antics (2004) or the debut from 2002, and with the album cover they don't even try to take big leaps from their own heritage - on the contrary, in fact, and maybe there's even a message in that.
I guess, critics would argue that the band has only moved few inches since their acclaimed debut and that there are no evident traces of the band's later album releases from 2007, 2010 and 2014. The differences may be small, but not microscopical, and what makes this a more mature album is what appears as perfection in details. The songs are simple, yet delightfully progressive in small dozes - it's subtle form and a significant depth that makes this the band's best album since the debut in 2002.
I like it - it's a grower.
Recommendable.
[ allmusic.com, NME, The Guardian, Slant 4 / 5 stars ]
