When I see young new artists emerge, I am always curious to see what they will do next. If you have followed my blog over the years, then you will know that I have raved about Meg Myers from the beginning, for the better part of half a decade. I reviewed her first EPs and her first album. These were all phenomenal releases. The thing that set her apart from other young pop singer/ songwriters was the sheer raw passion she threw into her music, drawing comparisons to Alanis Morissette and Sinead O'Connor. I was curious to see how she would follow up her previous efforts. Would she maintain her artistic integrity? Or would she veer off into glitzy commercialism?
With her sophomore album, "Take Me To The Disco", released this summer, it turns out that we didn't have to worry. This album is not only just as good as her earlier music, it's better.
The best anectdote to illustrate the aura of this album is to realize that, in the interim between releases, Myers left her major label, Atlantic Records, for an indie label. Why? Because Atlantic was putting undo pressure on her to produce radio-friendly "hits". This pressure froze her creatively to the point that she was no longer able to write songs. So, she left the label, in what I would call a smart move, and was able to write music on her own terms. The first single was "Numb", and on it she sings:
"I hate the feeling of this weight upon my shoulders
Pushing the pressure down on me
If you force it, it won't come
I guess I'm feeling numb"
This song is a direct response to Atlantic's efforts to extract creativity from her, much in the same vein as Sara Bareilles's "Love Song". ("I'm not going to write you a love song 'cause you asked for it.")
Some critics have said that this new album is less Alanis Morissette and more Kate Bush, and I would agree with that assessment. This album is darker, grittier, and more atmospheric than her previous arrangements. And not just in terms of mood and ambiance, but musically. There are dreamy layers and orchestral interludes and piano. It's not that this album is no less angry, but more otherwordly, more meditative and reflective. Myers's secret weapon has always been her vocal abilities. Especially if you have seen live footage of her concerts, you will know that Myers throws her whole self into the deliverance of her vocals. It's not just singing; it's performance. Her whole body goes into expressing the lyrics, and it is totally unfeigned. You can see that she feels these songs with every delivery. And it shows on the album.
The album starts out with the title track, "Take Me To the Disco", with a piano intro reminiscent of Gary Jules's interpretation of "Mad World", but then ascends gently to a symphonic arrangement. The third track is one of my favorites - "Tourniquet". Myers emotes stark lyrics with clarity set to music that is at once somber and glistening. "Tear Me to Pieces" starts out as a guitar ballad and explodes into a caustic refutal of jilted love. Another favorite, "Jealous Sea", with its play on nautical terms, is a perfect example of Myer's sound. "The Death of Me" is a duet with a mysterious male singer. "I'm Not Sorry" seems to be a rebuttal to her 2015 single, "Sorry". And "Little Black Death" is one of my favorites with its Nine Inch Nails' inspired lashing electronic beat.
Really, the whole album is good, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to familiarize themselves with her work. Meg Myers has proven that she is an artist who is willing to stretch her abilities to define herself as a songwriter and a musician. A case in point is how she taught herself to play the bass for recent shows. She is willing to stretch herself beyond her limits. If only half of the pop artists out there cared as much about their craft.
Below are a couple of music videos, including "Jealous Sea", which was just released.
It was Christmas of 2007. One of my wives gave me the gift of CDs. One of them was "Our Love to Admire" by Interpol. I think she picked the CD because of the unusual cover, featuring stuffed animals in the pantomime of killing each other. I had heard of the band, but I knew nothing about them, save their hipster reputation. Little did I know that this would become one of my favorite and most-listened-to albums.
I remember the first time I put the CD in and listened to that first track, "Pioneer to the Falls". My initial reaction to Paul Banks's vocals was that he was a dead ringer for Brendan Perry from Dead Can Dance, with his smooth baritone. Then, no, they sounded like The Doors. But then it dawned on me. They sounded just like Joy Division.
"Our Love To Admire" became one of my most listened to albums of the last decade, along with Modest Mouse, Muse, Coldplay, and My Chemical Romance. From the brooding basslines and pounding beats of "The Heinrich Maneuver" and "Mammoth" to the serious and contemplative of "Pace Is the Trick" and "Who Do You Think?" to the dreamy atmospherics of "The Lighthouse", this album was one of my favorites.
Other than that, I never heard anything else by Interpol. I did download "Untitled" from their debut record, "Turn On the Bright Lights", because that song had been featured on a commercial for HBO's program about Mormon polygamy, "Big Love", and I liked the song. But that's about it. I didn't even know what the band looked like until fairly recently. I was surprised at how young they were; their sound is much more mature. There were a couple of instances over the years where I tried to listen to other selections, but they made me want to go back and listen to the familiar, to "Our Love To Admire".
Interpol - then
Then, earlier this summer, my son Aidan told me that Interpol would soon be coming out with a new album, so I decided to check it out. Aidan is in a band, and he has a penchant for the post-punk bands that came out of New York in the last decade like The Strokes. So, to prepare for the review, I decided to download the other five albums that I did not have, including the new one. I haven't been able to stop listening for the last few weeks. This is my kind of music. It should be statistically impossible that a band can have six albums, and every single one of them be this listenable, right? But they are.
The first record, "Turn On the Bright Lights", released in 2002, is clearly a post-punk record with its domination Peter Hook-style bass hooks, pounding snares, and scratchy guitars. Ofttimes, this band turns down to volume and raises the fuzz to sound almost shoegaze on songs like "NYC" and "Hands Away". In fact, there are entire Reddit discussions that debate whether or not this band could be called shoegaze. But, of course, they don't come out of that scene. Although there are shoegaze elements through every single album, this is not a shoegaze band. They emerged in the time period between the shoegaze movement of the '90s and its reemergence in the early 2010s. Their sound is much like Beach Fossils, but without the same genre classification. And that's probably a good thing. Interpol is their own thing. Other good songs include the catchy "PDA", the moody "The New", and "Leif Erickson". Their first record was critically acclaimed, although not many people heard it until later. It took several years to achieve gold status, and the band just completed a 25th anniversary tour for this album.
In 2005, they released their second record, "Antics", which had a more palatable, danceable guitar pop sound as reflected in songs like "Evil", "Narc", and "Not Even Jail". There were also some more expansive songs like "Public Pervert", "Length of Love", and "A Time To Be So Small". The version of the album I downloaded includes a bonus disc that includes dance remixes of several of the songs that are really delightful. Although I really like the album, I would say that "Antics" is their weakest release.
"Our Love to Admire" in 2007 is arguably their most well-known album. Not only is it the one I owned for many years, but, when I talk to people, it seems to be the one that people mention.
Marauder
In 2010, the band came out with an eponymous fourth album, a strong release. It's hard to pinpoint what exactly better about this release. It's less catchy yet more demanding of your attention. It's darker and grittier. It creates a keening and a longing within you from the first song "Success" that continues throughout the whole album and continues with the layered "Memory Serves" with its surging orchestral sound. The best song on here is "Lights" which sees Banks enunciating the stark lyrics with clarity while the music gradually builds to a crescendo, as well as the electronic ambient song "All of the Ways".
"El Pintor" saw another strong album in 2014. Spanish for "the painter", it is also an anagram for the band's name. The album starts with the shoegazey "All the Rage Back Home" and "My Desire", which sounds like a throwback to the band's early days. The record's best song is the heartbreaking and delicious "Everything is Wrong", along with the furious "Breaker 1". The whole album is just really good, and to make things even better, in early 2018, the band released a three-song EP of songs from the "El Pintor" recording sessions, evening out the collection.
At the end of August this year, we saw the release of "Marauder", Interpol's sixth studio recording. Anyone who thinks that time would have dulled the band's creative impulse would be sorely mistaken. The album starts out with Banks singing falsetto on "If You Really Love Nothing", with its accompanying video starring Kristen Stewart. "The Rover", perhaps my favorite song, is an anthem in all its post-punk glory. On songs like "Nysmaw", Banks almost aspects Peter Murphy. I also like "Surveillance" with its delicate conversations between guitars. The whole album really meshes as it takes us on a rollercoaster of sound, verifying that the band are strong songwriters.
The past three weeks have been really nice, rediscovering this band. They are still as relevant and hip as every. It is rare for me to find bands like this, that I can listen to every single album. Perhaps only Silversun Pickups. I would start the music at the first song of the first album and play them through to the final album, taking most of the day, and then start it over. You always hope to find a band like this, and Interpol is one of those bands.
