Our Love To Admire - Reception

Reception

The album has received mostly positive critical response of 70 overall at Metacritic. Playlouder gave it all five stars and said, "The band have colonised the rich turf at the intersection of meticulously structured mope-rock and free-flowing three-chord pop, where moments of resignation cosy up alongside twinkling hopes for the future like Winehouse to the sauce." Hot Press gave it a favorable review and said that the album "makes for hugely rewarding listening."

Uncut gave the album four stars out of five and called it "a majestic, grandiose, machine-tooled album, subtly orchestrated with gothic pianos and doomy organs." URB also gave it four stars out of five and called it "the type of strung-out confession that fills the junkie mold of classic Bright Lights Interpol--a welcomed revival after the wayward Antics." Now likewise gave the album four stars out of five and said that "In terms of writing and production, this may be Interpol at their best." Billboard gave it a favorable review and said that the band "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." BBC Music gave it a positive review and said that Interpol are "tighter than a laser-guided smart bomb, the beats are more swingy, and Carlos D's bass and keys are even more expressive and swooning." The Boston Globe likewise gave it a favorable review and said, "The foreboding melancholy of 'Turn on the Bright Lights' has eroded into a sound that's less idiosyncratic; by design or accident, that broad-brush aesthetic coincides with the band's move from an indie label (Matador) to a major one (Capitol)." Q and Mojo both gave the album a score of four stars out of five.

The Phoenix gave the album three stars out of four and called it "well worth exploring". The A.V. Club gave it a B and said it "delivers exactly what's promised, which for fans will be exactly enough." Under the Radar gave the album seven stars out of ten and said it "isn't going to change many minds--those who already liked the band will find plenty to please, and vice versa." No Ripcord also gave it seven stars and said the album's lesser tracks "seem to have placed a greater emphasis on texture than melody or even rhythm, which is arguably the band’s most potent weapon. As a whole, though, Sam Fogarino will be satisfied." Paste gave the album three-and-a-half stars out of five and said that it "may not be Sgt. Pepper, but it's still filled with morbidly catchy treats." The Village Voice gave it a positive review and said that "Somehow the band manages to sound insincere and gorgeous at the same time." Prefix Magazine also gave it a positive review and said it "sounds more or less like the last two, and that's its biggest problem."

Other reviews are average, mixed or negative: Yahoo! Music UK gave the album six stars out of ten and said of Interpol: "Crucially, it seems their ability to write a magisterially moving song such as "NYC" or "Obstacle No 1", both from their debut, seems to have abandoned them. In fairness, sonically speaking, this is their best effort yet." Blender gave it three stars out of five and also said of Interpol: "In fleshing out the contours of a sound once slavishly indebted to early-'80s titans like JD and the Smiths, they've nuanced the moods Banks moons over. Awesome for him. Only so-so for us." Spin gave it a score of six out of ten and called it "oddly reined in" and "a transitional record by a band not yet willing to completely let go of the past." The Guardian gave it three stars out of five and called it "undoubtedly impressive: impressive enough, in fact, to counter the fact that Interpol are pretty light on ideas of their own."

The Austin Chronicle gave the album two stars out of five and said it "could use more Carlos D.'s low-end bass/keyboard flourishes. Perhaps it's time to turn the lights out." Tiny Mix Tapes gave it one-and-a-half stars out of five and said it "isn’t even a contractual obligation to push off without care."