A Fine Mess is the eighth extended play by American rock band Interpol. It was released on May 17, 2019, through Matador Records. It contains five songs that were recorded during the sessions for their previous studio album, Marauder (2018), but did not make its final cut. Like Marauder, A Fine Mess was produced by Dave Fridmann, while the song "Fine Mess" received additional production from Kaines and Tom A. D. The song "Real Life" was first performed live during their Turn On the Bright Lights XV anniversary tour in 2017. "Fine Mess" and "The Weekend" were released as singles prior to the EP's release.
Contents
Critical reception
A Fine Mess was met with mixed or average reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 59, based on 6 reviews.
Personnel
Personnel taken from A Fine Mess liner notes.
Interpol
Daniel Kessler
Paul Banks
Sam Fogarino
Additional musicians
Michael Spearman – additional rhythm on "Fine Mess"
Roger Joseph Manning Jr. – keyboards on "Fine Mess" and "No Big Deal"
Brandon Curtis – keyboards on "Real Life", additional vocals on "Fine Mess"
Production
Dave Fridmann – production, recording, mixing
Michael Fridmann – assistant engineer
Kaines & Tom A.D. – additional production on "Fine Mess"
Claudius Mittendorfer – mixing
Greg Calbi – mastering
Design
Matt de Jong – artwork
Jamie-James Medina – artwork
Kalpesh Lathigra – photography