Our Love To Admire

The StrokesやThe Nationalと並んで、ゼロ年代NYのロック・シーン隆盛の一端を担い、今もなお第一線で活躍するInterpolの大ヒット・アルバム『Our Love to Admire』が〈Matador〉盤として初リイシュー!
2007年に通算3作目、メジャー移籍後初アルバムとしてリリースされた本作は、レイジ・アゲインスト・ザ・マシーン、ミューズ、フィオナ・アップル仕事で名を馳せた異能リッチ・コスティをプロデューサーに迎え、エレクトリック・レディとマジック・ショップでレコーディングが行われ、「The Heinrich Maneuver」や「Mammoth」といったシングル曲や人気曲「Rest My Chemistry」、「Pioneer to the Falls」、「No I in Threesome」を含む全11曲を収録。
Interpol節ともいえるギター、ベース、シンセサイザーを何層にも重ねて陶酔的なサウンドスケープを突き詰め、英米チャートともに初登場2位を記録、孤高の美学を貫きながらも最も商業的に成功した作品となった。

Though Our Love to Admire is technically Interpol's first major-label album, the way the band attempted to streamline the gorgeously dark atmospherics of Turn on the Bright Lights into something more marketable on Antics made that album feel more like their big-time debut than this album does. On Our Love to Admire, Interpol spends roughly half their time following Antics' game plan of distilling their sound into readily accessible hooks, and the other half stretching their sound with deluxe arrangements and filigrees like strings, brass, and keyboards (all of which are used to grandiose effect on "Wrecking Ball"). Our Love to Admire's poppy tracks have been polished into black patent leather brilliance: "No I in Threesome"'s jaunty, insistent rhythms and "The Heinrich Maneuver"'s relatively bright, bouncy attack show that Interpol has gotten better, or at least more accomplished, at transforming their sound into singles since Antics. More heartening news for Turn on the Bright Lights fans arrives on Our Love to Admire's ambitious tracks, some of which come close to touching the greatness of Interpol's debut. "Pioneer to the Falls" uses the album's expansive production to the hilt, beginning with elegantly treacherous guitars, strings, and pianos; Daniel Kessler's soaring guitar solo and Paul Banks' repeated entreaties of "you fly straight into my heart" feel like the musical equivalent of storm clouds clearing. The song is filmic and full of ideas, and updates the spirit behind Turn on the Bright Lights without rehashing its sound slavishly. "Mammoth" is another standout, a tense yet hypnotic rocker that builds into a graceful fury around the refrain "spare me the suspense" and the band's relentless rhythm section. However, two of the prettiest songs vie for the title of the album's strongest track: "Rest My Chemistry" is Our Love to Admire's languid, luminous centerpiece (and the song that most clearly recalls Turn on the Bright Lights' magic), while the album's spare, vulnerable finale, "The Lighthouse," boasts some of Banks' most natural, affecting vocals yet. When Our Love to Admire falters -- and it falters a fair amount of the time -- it's because Interpol's attention to atmosphere and detail outpaces the songwriting. At this point the band is so professional that songs like "The Scale," "Who Do You Think?," and "Pace Is the Trick" can sound good in the moment, but fail to leave a lasting impression. With nearly as many awkward moments as inspired ones, Our Love to Admire is a somewhat schizophrenic listening experience. It feels like half of an album by a band making sure their songs that fit the mold of what they've done before, and half of an album by a band using their major-label leverage to push their boundaries. Who knows which version of the band will prevail, but there are just enough interesting songs on Our Love to Admire to suggest that they can't be written off entirely just yet. ~ Heather Phares

デビュー作『Turn On The Bright Lights』の衝撃は多くのリスナーに静かなるトラウマを植え付け、前作『Antics』では（いい意味での）奇異さを眼前に提示するなど、インターポールは常にデカダンスを露呈してきた。では、この新作はどうか。そこにはもう、NYの一バンドとしての鬱屈した諦念は皆無。彼らはすでにロック・シーンにおける重要なオピニオン・リーダーであり、それを意識したかのような気迫のこもった音に、きっと誰もが言葉を失うことだろう。スリルに満ちたメロディーも、火花散る苛烈なギターも、爆雷のようなリズムも、情念をたぎらすポールの声も、とにかく深い!　そう、あまりにも深いのだ。重厚かつ壮大な美しさに彩られた、これぞ最高傑作。〈サマソニ〉のステージは絶対に観逃すな!
bounce (C)冨田 明宏