El Pintor (Spanish for "the painter"; also an anagram of "Interpol")[1] is the fifth studio album by the American rock band Interpol. It was released through Matador Records and Soft Limit on September 8, 2014, internationally, and on September 9, 2014, in North America. El Pintor is the band's first album without bassist Carlos Dengler, who departed Interpol after the release of the band's eponymous album in 2010.[2]

El Pintor
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 8, 2014 (2014-09-08)
Recorded2014
Studio
  • Electric Lady (Manhattan, New York)
  • Atomic Sound (Brooklyn, New York)
Genre
Length39:50
Label
ProducerInterpol
Interpol chronology
Interpol
(2010)
El Pintor
(2014)
Marauder
(2018)
Singles from El Pintor
  1. "All the Rage Back Home"
    Released: August 12, 2014
  2. "Ancient Ways"
    Released: August 19, 2014
  3. "My Desire"
    Released: October 27, 2014
  4. "Anywhere"
    Released: March 9, 2015
  5. "Everything Is Wrong"
    Released: April 18, 2015

El Pintor received both critical and fan praise. The band embarked on a summer tour preceding the album's release.[3] Five singles were released from the album: "All the Rage Back Home", "Ancient Ways", "My Desire", "Anywhere", and "Everything Is Wrong".

Production

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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).[4][5] 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).[1]

In a 2018 interview with Vice, 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."[6]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.5/10[7]
Metacritic77/100[8]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [9]
The A.V. ClubA−[10]
Chicago Tribune    [11]
The Guardian     [12]
Mojo     [13]
NME8/10[14]
Pitchfork5.9/10[15]
Q     [16]
Rolling Stone     [17]
Uncut7/10[18]

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.[8] Clash magazine critic Will Salmon wrote: "...as an exercise in getting back to where you once belonged, El Pintor is highly successful".[19] 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".[20] Writing for NME, Rhian Daly stated that the band proved that "there's still plenty of value in their elegantly downtrodden aesthetic."[14] 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".[21] Uncut magazine also stated: "It's back go [sic] icy, slightly gothic basics".[18] 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".[15]

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.[22]

Accolades

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Accolades for El Pintor
Publication Accolade Rank
Q Top 50 Albums of 2014 12[23]
Drowned in Sound 50 Favourite Albums of 2014 13[24]
NME Top 50 Albums of 2014 49[25]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Interpol (Paul Banks, Sam Fogarino, and Daniel Kessler)

No.TitleLength
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.TitleLength
11."The Depths"4:08
Target deluxe edition
No.TitleLength
11."Malfeasance"4:36
12."Slow Hands" (live at the Brixton Academy)3:18

Personnel

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Interpol

Guest musicians[1]

Other personnel

  • James Brown – engineering, recording
  • Alan Moulder – mixing
  • Greg Calbi – mastering[2]

Charts

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Release history

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Release history and formats for El Pintor
Region Date Label
International[53] September 8, 2014 Soft Limit
United States[5] September 9, 2014 Matador

References

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  1. ^ a b c Young, Alex (June 5, 2014). "Interpol announce new album, El Pintor, due out in September". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
  2. ^ a b Hogan, Marc (June 5, 2014). "Interpol's First Album in Four Years, 'El Pintor,' Painted for September". Spin. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
  3. ^ Youorski, Joe (June 5, 2014). "Interpol Announces New Album El Pintor". Paste. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
  4. ^ Schneider, Marc (June 5, 2014). "Interpol Announces New Album 'El Pintor'". Billboard. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
  5. ^ a b Minsker, Evan; Camp, Zoe (June 5, 2014). "Interpol Announce New Album El Pintor". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
  6. ^ "Paul Banks Rates Interpol's Five Albums". Vice.com. 23 August 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  7. ^ "El Pintor by Interpol reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  8. ^ a b "Reviews for El Pintor by Interpol". Metacritic. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
  9. ^ Phares, Heather. "El Pintor – Interpol". AllMusic. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  10. ^ Battleground, Andrea (September 9, 2014). "Reborn as a trio, Interpol turns on its version of light with El Pintor". The A.V. Club. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  11. ^ Kot, Greg (September 8, 2014). "Interpol roars through the gloom on 'El Pintor'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
  12. ^ Simpson, Dave (September 4, 2014). "Interpol: El Pintor review – a cheerful return to sonic murk and doom". The Guardian. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
  13. ^ "Interpol: El Pintor". Mojo (251): 89. October 2014.
  14. ^ a b Daly, Rhian (August 31, 2014). "Interpol – 'El Pintor'". NME. Archived from the original on September 1, 2014. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
  15. ^ a b Fitzmaurice, Larry (September 8, 2014). "Interpol: El Pintor". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  16. ^ "Interpol: El Pintor". Q (339): 106. October 2014.
  17. ^ Sheffield, Rob (September 9, 2014). "El Pintor". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
  18. ^ a b "Interpol: El Pintor". Uncut (209): 73. October 2014.
  19. ^ Salmon, Will (August 26, 2014). "Interpol - El Pintor". Clash. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
  20. ^ Gourlay, Dom (August 28, 2014). "Album Review: Interpol – El Pintor". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on August 30, 2014. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  21. ^ Kaill, Gary (August 26, 2014). "Interpol – El Pintor". The Skinny. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
  22. ^ "Platz 2: Interpol - "El Pintor"". laut.de (in German). 2014-12-13. Retrieved 2015-03-02.
  23. ^ "Q End Of Year Lists Lists". Rocklistmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  24. ^ "Drowned in Sound's 50 Favourite Albums of 2014". DrownedInSound.com. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  25. ^ "Rocklist.net....NME End Of Year Lists 2014..." Rocklistmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  26. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Interpol – El Pintor". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  27. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Interpol – El Pintor" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  28. ^ "Ultratop.be – Interpol – El Pintor" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  29. ^ "Ultratop.be – Interpol – El Pintor" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  30. ^ "Interpol Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  31. ^ "Danishcharts.dk – Interpol – El Pintor". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 20, 2014.
  32. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Interpol – El Pintor" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  33. ^ "Interpol: El Pintor" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved September 27, 2014.
  34. ^ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  35. ^ "Artisti - Classifica settimanale WK 37 (dal 08-09-2014 al 14-09-2014)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Archived from the original on October 11, 2014. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  36. ^ "Charts.nz – Interpol – El Pintor". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  37. ^ "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLiS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  38. ^ "Portuguesecharts.com – Interpol – El Pintor". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  39. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
  40. ^ "Spanishcharts.com – Interpol – El Pintor". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  41. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Interpol – El Pintor". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  42. ^ "Interpol | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  43. ^ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 23, 2022.
  44. ^ "Interpol Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  45. ^ "Interpol Chart History (Digital Albums)".[dead link] Billboard. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  46. ^ "Interpol Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  47. ^ "Interpol Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  48. ^ "Interpol Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  49. ^ "Interpol Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  50. ^ "Jaaroverzichten 2014". Ultratop.be. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  51. ^ "Rapports Annuels 2014". Ultratop.be. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  52. ^ "2014 Year End Charts - Top Billboard Independent Albums". Billboard. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
  53. ^ "El Pintor on Matador Records". Matablog.matadorrecords.com. 5 June 2014. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
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