Interpol

The sharp-dressed merchants of New York City cool known as Interpol have returned to Matador Records for their fourth record, but is it a triumphant return? Gone is the iconic, Doc Martens-loving bassist Carlos Dengler, as well as many of the band’s alt-rock leanings from 2007’s disappointing Our Love to Admire. Though the latter is a likely plus and the former is probably more of a cosmetic change than anything else, Interpol isn’t the reinvention modern-day Joy Division enthusiasts have likely been hoping for. Rather than cover new ground, the band’s fourth record does little to dodge the genre trappings that have led critics to heap them with countless soundalikes before. There are still plenty of nods to '80s college rock and everything doom-and-gloom, but fans will have to accept that the new decade has not brought us a new Interpol, but a mere shuffling of the innards that have worked (or not) for the band in the past. This includes Paul Banks’ ambiguous romanticism ("Summer Well"), meandering buildups ("Lights"), and dissonant post-punk guitars (virtually everything). With 2002 and Turn On the Bright Lights fading further into the indie rock canon, it seems an Interpol revival will take more than a simple cleaning and pressing of the same old suits.