Marauder, by Interpol
As Antics and Turn on the Bright Lights are two of my favorite albums so I was really excited after I heard the singles from Marauder. The Rover, Number 10, and If You Really Love Nothing all seemed like a nice balanced set of ideas. I loved the production on those tracks: they felt hazy and rugged, unpolished and controlled. And more importantly, it didn’t FEEL like another Antics/Turn on the Bright Lights sequel.
The opener If You Really Love Nothing kept my attention, but the songs quickly became repetitive like the opener: The Rover, Complications, Stay in Touch, NYSMAW, Surveillance, Party’s Over, and It Probably Matters. After numerous listens the same chord progressions and delivery got very old. Unfortunately, this can be said about almost all of the songs on the album. Compared to the rest of the album, Flight of Fancy and Mountain Child are good tracks. But, compared to the rest of Interpol’s catalog, it’s weak as hell (with the exception of Number 10). It slowly became a chore to listen to the album, and I really hate to say this, but I couldn’t wait for it to be over.
All the cool energy in the singles disappeared in context of the album, the album's production fell flat, and it’s clear Interpol is a one trick post-punk pony. This just felt like another Interpol album. Diehard fan or not, you’re definitely not missing anything new.