Big lineup changes have recently colored Interpol‘s reemergence from its moody dormancy, but the shifts have hardly altered its taste for the vague and obtuse. In the case of the Charlie White-directed video for “Lights,” the first single from the band’s eponymous fourth LP, this thirst manifests itself perhaps more than ever before and, as far as we’re concerned, only works to strengthen its sinister aesthetic. Though we won’t be so presumptuous as to even get close to a deep understanding of the film, we’re allowing ourselves to be content in the knowledge that a “pheromone-harvesting ritual” is taking place “in the … chambers of the Three-Horned Rhinoceros Beetle”—the band’s words, not ours. The treatment surprised us given the recent departure of bassist Carlos D., whose darkly stylized fashion choices and oblique indie film work seemed to indicate he was the obvious proponent of Interpol’s more leftfield experiments. Regardless who’s beckoning the darkness, we’re psyched for the band’s return and that it has re-introduced us to its haunted brand in such a bold manner. The long-awaited new record arrives September 7 via Matador, and the band will be touring extensively throughout the remainder of 2010.
