El Pintor (Spanish for "the painter"; also an anagram of "Interpol")
El Pintor received both critical and fan praise. The band embarked on a summer tour preceding the album's release.
Production
Self-produced by the band and recorded at Electric Lady Studios and Atomic Sound in New York City, the album was engineered by James Brown (known for his work for
Foo Fighters) and mixed by
Alan Moulder (known for his production and mixing work for My Bloody Valentine,
Swervedriver, the Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails).
The bass duties on the album were taken over by frontman Paul Banks. The album features guest appearances by
Brandon Curtis (
Secret Machines), Roger Joseph Manning Jr. (Jellyfish) and
Rob Moose (
Bon Iver).
In a 2018 interview with Vice Media, Banks claimed that the band's future was uncertain after Dengler left, saying: "it was really just daunting to find out if we could be a good band without Carlos, because he was a really integral member of our band." However, it did not take long for the group to find the type of sound they wanted to go with in the future. Banks continued: "I think everyone was of common mind and purpose when we made this record. We'd gone pretty far left on Interpol, so I think there was a spirit of 'Let's just try to rock.' It was a good reset for us."
Critical reception
Reviews of
El Pintor have been highly positive overall. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 77, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 34 (26 positive and eight mixed) reviews.
magazine critic Will Salmon wrote: "...as an exercise in getting back to where you once belonged,
El Pintor is highly successful".
Dom Gourlay of
Drowned in Sound thought that the album "feels more structured than
Interpol" and stated, "Bold in intention and quiet in confidence, they've gone back to basics here and for the most part, the results are sublime". Gourlay also described the album as the band's "finest record in a decade".
Writing for
NME, Rhian Daly stated that the band proved that "there's still plenty of value in their elegantly downtrodden aesthetic."
critic Gary Kaill wrote: "Expansive and texturally advanced, and arguably their strongest outing since that lauded debut, this is a welcome second coming".
magazine also stated: "It's back go sic icy, slightly
Gothic rock basics".
Larry Fitzmaurice of
Pitchfork gave a more mixed review of the album, stating: "There's nothing here that touches the band's creative peak, but any of
El Pintors songs could hang with Interpol's strongest deep cuts".
El Pintor made its way onto multiple music magazine best of the year lists, most prominently, Drowned in Sound (No. 13), Q (No. 12) and NME (No. 49). It was voted the second best album of 2014 by the popular German music website Laut.de.
Accolades
Track listing
Personnel
Interpol
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Paul Banksvocals, rhythm guitar, bass guitar, production
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Daniel Kesslerlead guitar, piano (10), production
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, percussion, production
Guest musicians
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(1–8, 10, all bonus tracks)
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Roger Joseph Manning, Jr.keyboards (9)
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, viola (10)
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Brad Truax – bass guitar on "Slow Hands" (live)
Other personnel
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James Brownengineering, recording
-
-
Greg Calbimastering
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Release history
External links
