Interpol: Interpol

The crossover hopes pinned on Interpol before 2007's Our Love To Admire always seemed a bit of a stretch. A chill wind blows through their billowing choruses, and the same froideur that scuppered that record's chances of drivetime ubiquity pervades this terrifically gloomy follow-up. It's a record that trades on familiar virtues. There's some sparse orchestration courtesy of now-departed bassist Carlos D and a whip crack or two on the seemingly S&M-fixated "Lights". But the interplay of tightly coiled guitar lines and singer Paul Banks's anguished croon, as well as the band's rare ability to distinguish between sweeping anthemics and histrionic bluster, is what really impresses.