Interpol
This Mirror Weighs A Ton
(Partisan)
⭑⭑⭑⭑☆

THE Guardian recently called Interpol’s new album “their masterpiece.” But while it’s very good, I’m not sure many people will think it tops the US indie rock band’s 2002 debut Turn On The Bright Lights.

Recording in Manhattan for the first time in over 10 years, and with Dave Fridmann (Mercury Rev, The Flaming Lips) on mixing duties, it’s certainly one of their most varied records. 

The title track is an expansive, relatively slow opener, with frontman Paul Banks’ haunting baritone as powerful and dramatic-sounding as ever. Elsewhere the tracks See Out Loud and Wings On Fire plug into the taut post-punk energy of their early 2000s work, while Iron City imagines a conversation between the song’s narrator and future artificial intelligence. Wounded Soldier is inspired by drone footage from the Russia-Ukraine war.

An exciting return to form.

Phoebe Bridgers
Lost Weekend
(Dead Oceans)
⭑⭑⭑☆☆

PHOEBE Bridgers is becoming seriously famous. 

As well as enjoying huge success as part of the indie rock supergroup Boygenius, the US singer-songwriter has also featured on tracks with Taylor Swift, SZA and The Killers, and dated the actor Paul Mescal.

Lost Weekend is her eagerly awaited third solo album, and the 16 deeply confessional tracks spread over 52 minutes will satiate fans, who will no doubt spend hours analysing the lyrics. And there’s lots to ponder — from the singalong single Lost Boys, which feels like a commentary about contemporary masculinity, to the reference on Bobby to “a thing in a box I don’t fuck any more” (Bobby likely being Bridgers’ current beau, the US comedian and film-maker Bo Burnham).

Sonically it’s her most adventurous record yet, though for me there’s a lack of killer melodies and hooks.

Lambchop
Punching The Clown
(Merge)
⭑⭑⭑⭑☆

HAILED as the standard bearers of alt-country following the release of their exquisite 2000 album Nixon, Nashville collective Lambchop have been on quite a journey since then, employing auto-tuned vocals, drum machines and synths on recent releases.

With their wry, enigmatic aura echoing the work of Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Bill Callahan, the band — specifically bandleader Kurt Wagner’s affected, slightly distancing vocal delivery — have always been an acquired taste. 

Punching The Clown is another bold move. Accompanied by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon on banjo, Wagner sings a series of ballads backed by a choir. There’s a definite minimalist feel to proceedings, with the slow songs transformed by the entrance of massed, soaring voices into a strikingly unusual kind of music, sitting somewhere between a barbershop quartet and show tunes.

What an outstanding left turn and artistic accomplishment this is.