Our Love to Admire

The outcome is akin to an artistic explosion.

The New York quartet retains its flair for dramatic images and ominous guitar lines on its major-label debut, but with producer/ mixer Rich Costey onboard, these signatures uncoil into more complex soundscapes.

Our Love to Admire will be looked back on as that tricky third record, the one it's cool to like best.

Admire finds the band's balance shifting significantly; the rhythm players often seem more like glorified session men than integral components of a sleek post-punk machine.

When it works, it's undoubtedly impressive: impressive enough, in fact, to counter the fact that Interpol are pretty light on ideas of their own.

Here's the solid, understated third album that digs in without trying to break new ground.

Our Love to Admire is the perfect soundtrack for an eighth grade dance, but for actual adults who know better, it's best to avoid this mess.