White Lies – To Lose My Life (2009) [Polydor] // Grade: C+

I guess it’s about time for a new Interpol, right? If Our Love to Admire was any indication of where things are heading for Interpol, then I’d say so. Too bad the Stills never panned out, but who knows, maybe White Lies will be up for unseating this decade’s Cliff Notes version of post-punk…

To Lose My Life is a wholly enjoyable album, but it’s also very derivative of the paint-by-number, 4-chord, heavy bass  formula of Interpol, a band who also were pretty derivative themselves…yet highly enjoyable. Now, while I forgave The Pains of Being Pure at Heart for basically this same exact flaw, I did so because they were gleefully paving over a road less traveled. To Lose My Life, on the other hand, plays like 10 very calculated auditions for either the next Apple commercial or Gossip Girl. These songs may go down smooth, but they ultimately leave you with an unpleasant aftertaste (or at least they do with me). That said, I’m still big enough to admit that songs like “Death”, “To Lose My Life”, and “Farewell To the Fairground” will all assuredly worm their way into my heart as guilty pleasures over the course of 2009… but will they have staying power in 2010?

- My Pal the Crook