This Mirror Weighs A Ton

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While indie-sleaze Instagram accounts and Just Like Heaven festival lineups allow millennial music fans to easily revisit the mid-2000s, post-Y2K post-punkers Interpol refuse to look back. Sure, certain aspects of the group’s sound—Paul Banks’ stern yet sensitive voice, Daniel Kessler’s dark yet dreamy guitar lines, and that ever-present nocturnal NYC atmosphere—have remained undisturbed by the passage of time. But on their eighth album, <i>This Mirror Weighs a Ton</i>, those sturdy sonic signatures serve as the anchors that allow Interpol to further stretch their aesthetic while still holding onto their essential doomed-romantic identity, be it through the smoky trip-hop of the title track <b>“This Mirror Weighs a Ton,”</b> the reggae-tinged grooves of <b>“Wounded Soldier,”</b> the sound-collage piano balladry of <b>“Sudden,”</b> and the prickly disco gallop of <b>“Wake Up,”</b> which is closer to an early-2000s dance-punk track than anything Interpol actually recorded in that era. That said, if you’re still pining for the Interpol of old, the wiry rocker (and rare Banks/Kessler vocal duet) <b>“See Out Loud”</b> provides the necessary adrenaline shot to get your slow hands clapping more vigorously. <b>Our Favorite Track:</b> On an album rife with intriguing stylistic detours, the bossa nova Paul Banks of <b>“So Rides the Reindeer”</b> just might be the most alluring.

via Apple Music