El Pintor (album)

El Pintor
Studio album by Interpol
Released	September 8, 2014
Recorded	2014
Studio	Electric Lady Studios (New York, New York) Atomic Sound (New York, New York)
Genre	Post-punk revival indie rock
Length	39:50
Label	Matador Soft Limit
Producer	Interpol[1]
Interpol chronology
Try It On (2011) El Pintor (2014) Singles from El Pintor "All the Rage Back Home" Released: August 12, 2014 "Ancient Ways" Released: August 19, 2014 "My Desire" Released: October 27, 2014 "Anywhere" Released: March 9, 2015 "Everything Is Wrong" Released: April 18, 2015

El Pintor is the fifth studio album by the American rock band Interpol. It was released on September 8, 2014 internationally and on September 9, 2014 in North America, through Matador Records. 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, who is known for his work for Foo Fighters, and mixed by Alan Moulder, who is known for his production and mixing work for My Bloody Valentine, Swervedriver, The Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails.^[1][2]

The album title, which means "the painter" in Spanish, is an anagram of Interpol.^[3] It is the band's first album without bassist Carlos Dengler, who departed the band after the release of the band's eponymous album in 2010.^[4] The bass duties on the album were taken over by frontman Paul Banks. The album features guest appearances by Brandon Curtis of Secret Machines, Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. and Rob Moose of Bon Iver.^[3] The band embarked on a summer tour in accompaniment with the album.^[5]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	77/100[6]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
The A.V. Club	A-[8]
Clash	7/10[9]
Consequence of Sound	B[10]
Drowned in Sound	9/10[11]
musicOMH	[12]
NME	8/10[13]
Pitchfork	5.9/10[14]
The Skinny	8/10[15]
Slant Magazine	[16]
Uncut	7/10[6]

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 8 mixed) reviews.^[6] Clash magazine critic Will Salmon wrote: "...as an exercise in getting back to where you once belonged, El Pintor is highly successful."^[9] 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."^[11] Writing for NME, Rhian Daly stated that the band is "proving there's still plenty of value in their elegantly downtrodden aesthetic."^[13] The Skinny critic Gary Kaill wrote: "Expansive and texturally advanced, and arguably their strongest outing since that lauded debut, this is a welcome second coming."^[15] Uncut magazine also stated: "it's back go [sic] icy, slightly Gothic basics."^[6] 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 Pintor's songs could hang with Interpol’s strongest deep cuts."^[14]

El Pintor made its way onto multiple best of the year lists of music magazines. Most prominently, it was featured on the best album of the year lists of Drowned in Sound (#13), Q (#12) and NME (#49). It was voted the second best album of 2014 by the popular German music website laut.de.^[17]

Track listing

All tracks written by Interpol. 

No.	Title	Length
1.	"All the Rage Back Home"	4:22
2.	"My Desire"	5:00
3.	"Anywhere"	3:12
4.	"Same Town, New Story"	4:09
5.	"My Blue Supreme"	3:09
6.	"Everything Is Wrong"	3:32
7.	"Breaker 1"	4:13
8.	"Ancient Ways"	3:00
9.	"Tidal Wave"	4:17
10.	"Twice as Hard"	4:56

iTunes pre-order
No.	Title	Length
11.	"The Depths"	4:08

Target deluxe edition
No.	Title	Length
11.	"Malfeasance"	4:36
12.	"Slow Hands" (live at the Brixton Academy)	3:18

Personnel

Interpol

• Paul Banks – vocals, rhythm guitar, bass guitar, production
• Daniel Kessler – lead guitar, piano (10) , production
• Sam Fogarino – drums, percussion, production

Guest musicians^[3]

• Brandon Curtis – keyboards (1–8, 10)
• Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. – keyboards (9)
• Rob Moose – violin (10); viola (10)
• Brad Truax – bass guitar on "Slow Hands" (live at the Brixton Academy) on the Target deluxe edition

Other personnel

• James Brown – engineering, recording
• Alan Moulder – mixing
• Greg Calbi – mastering^[4]

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2014) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[18] 11 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[19] 13 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[20] 11 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[21] 11 Canadian Albums (Billboard)[22] 15 Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[23] 30 Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[24] 16 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[25] 45 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[26] 11 Italian Albums (FIMI)[27] 25 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[28] 27 Polish Albums (ZPAV)[29] 50 Portuguese Albums (AFP)[30] 11 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[31] 25 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[32] 11 UK Albums (OCC)[33] 9 US Billboard 200[34] 7 US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[35] 1 US Digital Albums (Billboard)[36] 11 US Independent Albums (Billboard)[37] 2 US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[38] 2 US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[39] 2

Year-end charts Chart (2014) Position US Independent Albums[40] 39

Release history

Region	Date	Label
International[41]	September 8, 2014	Soft Limit
United States[2]	September 9, 2014	Matador

References

1. Schneider, Marc (June 5, 2014). "Interpol Announces New Album 'El Pintor'". Billboard. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
2. Minsker, Evan; Camp, Zoe (June 5, 2014). "Interpol Announce New Album El Pintor". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
3. Young, Alex (June 5, 2014). "Interpol announce new album, El Pintor, due out in September". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
4. Hogan, Marc (June 5, 2014). "Interpol's First Album in Four Years, 'El Pintor,' Painted for September". Spin. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
5. Youorski, Joe (June 5, 2014). "Interpol Announces New Album El Pintor". Paste. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
6. "Critic Reviews for El Pintor". Metacritic. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
7. Phares, Heather. "El Pintor - Interpol". AllMusic. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
8. "Review: Reborn as a trio, Interpol turns on its version of light with El Pintor". Retrieved 10 October 2014.
9. Salmon, Will (August 26, 2014). "Interpol - El Pintor". Clash. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
10. "Interpol – El Pintor". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
11. Gourlay, Dom (August 28, 2014). "Album Review: Interpol - El Pintor". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
12. Lee, Tim (September 8, 2014). "Interpol – El Pintor". musicOMH. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
13. Daly, Rhian (August 31, 2014). "Interpol - 'El Pintor'". NME. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
14. Fitzmaurice, Larry (September 8, 2014). "Interpol - El Pintor". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 10, 2014.
15. Kaill, Gary (August 26, 2014). "Interpol - El Pintor". The Skinny. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
16. Caldwell, Caleb (September 9, 2014). "Interpol: El Pintor". Slant Magazine. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
17. "Platz 2: Interpol - "El Pintor"". laut.de (in German). laut.de. 2014-12-13. Retrieved 2015-03-02.
18. "Australiancharts.com – Interpol – El Pintor". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
19. "Austriancharts.at – Interpol – El Pintor" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
20. "Ultratop.be – Interpol – El Pintor" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
21. "Ultratop.be – Interpol – El Pintor" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
22. "Interpol – Chart history" Billboard Canadian Albums Chart for Interpol. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
23. "Danishcharts.com – Interpol – El Pintor". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 20, 2014.
24. "Dutchcharts.nl – Interpol – El Pintor" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
25. "Interpol: El Pintor" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved September 27, 2014.
26. "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
27. "Artisti - Classifica settimanale WK 37 (dal 08-09-2014 al 14-09-2014)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
28. "Charts.org.nz – Interpol – El Pintor". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
29. "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLIS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
30. "Portuguesecharts.com – Interpol – El Pintor". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
31. "Spanishcharts.com – Interpol – El Pintor". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
32. "Swisscharts.com – Interpol – El Pintor". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
33. "Interpol | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart Retrieved September 19, 2014.
34. "Interpol – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Interpol. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
35. "Interpol – Chart history" Billboard Top Alternative Albums for Interpol. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
36. "Interpol – Chart history" Billboard Digital Albums for Interpol. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
37. "Interpol – Chart history" Billboard Independent Albums for Interpol. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
38. "Interpol – Chart history" Billboard Top Rock Albums for Interpol. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
39. "Interpol – Chart history" Billboard Top Tastemaker Albums for Interpol. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
40. "2014 Year End Charts - Top Billboard Independent Albums". Billboard. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
41. "El Pintor on Matador Records". Retrieved June 5, 2014.

External links

• Interpol official website