On their seventh studio album, The Other Side of Make-Believe, Interpol attempts to recapture the dramatic but alluringly detached sound of their early releases, defined by sleek guitar-driven rock paired with frontman Paul Banks’s apathetic vocal delivery. For one, songs like “Passenger,” which features a pretty melody that seamlessly transitions from verse to chorus and back again, wouldn’t sound out of place on the New York band’s 2002 debut, Turn on the Bright Lights, or 2004’s Antics.
Unfortunately, other songs, like the plodding “Fables” and “Into the Night,” feel like pale imitations of Interpol’s peak output, marred by dissonance and jagged guitars that abruptly stop and start again with little apparent rhyme or reason. Banks struggles to reach the higher notes on “Gran Hotel,” one of the more energetic tracks here, but at least the payoff is worth it, as the song builds to a passionate and fiercely performed outro.
Occasionally, the band ventures into some new sonic territory on The Other Side of Make-Believe. Particularly notable is the incorporation of piano, which, on opening track “Toni,” weaves around Daniel Kessler’s guitar lines, heightening the emotional potency of Banks’s weary vocals. Elsewhere, the more melodic approach of “Something Changed,” which is a bit slower in tempo, is a nice complement to the album’s more introspective lyrics.
Too often, though, Interpol opts for a rawer, more unfiltered aesthetic that ultimately comes off as grating and unpleasant. Banks’s vocals sound muddy, buried in the mix on songs like “Greenwich,” while the album’s two closing tracks, “Big Shot City” and “Go Easy (Palermo),” feature more unnecessarily chopped-up guitar lines and half-formed melodies.
With a title like The Other Side of Make-Believe, Interpol seem to announce their intention to explore beyond the reaches of fantasy but instead deliver a half-baked pastiche of previous releases. Even the album’s highlights can’t compete with the best cuts on later albums like 2014’s El Pintor. In an attempt to move forward, the band has simply disassembled and repackaged the stylistic traits that made them special in the first place.
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inaccurate review on so many levels. this is Interpol retaining their unique sound, while exploring and experimenting with new arrangements. my album of 2022.