The Interiors balance on a power-trio platform with one foot and try to kick down the format's barriers with another. The Chicago band's recent self-titled album punches into plenty of musical dimensions, sometimes in full force and sometimes a little greenly, angling as it does for both direct rocking and tasteful expansion. It's certainly worth taking a few listens to let it unfold: The Interiors lays clipped, Afrobeat-style guitar phrasing over a sparsely chugging rhythm on "A Crooked Line" and churns through "Wingman" with stirring post-punk urgency. As long as the band keeps pushing its dynamic interplay and indulging its taste for variety, the excitement should keep building.

The Onion, August 28, 2008