The Heinrich Maneuver

"The Heinrich Maneuver"
Single by Interpol
from the album Our Love to Admire
Released United States 7 May 2007
United Kingdom 2 July 2007
Format Digital download, 2x 7", CD
Recorded Electric Lady Studios
New York City
Genre Post-punk revival
Length 3:28
Label Capitol
Producer(s) Rich Costey
Interpol singles chronology
"C'mere"
(2005)
"The Heinrich Maneuver"
(2007)
"Mammoth"
(2007)

"The Heinrich Maneuver" is a song on New York-based post-punk revival band Interpol's third album, Our Love to Admire. It is the first single from the album. The cover features a Serval cat. The song's title is a play on the Heimlich Maneuver and an allusion to the book White Noise by Don DeLillo.

The song was also featured in a 2012 AT&T commercial.

Sound

Popular music magazine Billboard has described the song as "a peppy kiss-off to an ex-love now residing on the opposite coast."[1]

Like the majority of previous full-length Antics, this first single from Interpol's third album, Our Love to Admire, relies more on a guitar riff than the band's killer rhythm section. It's an Antics-worthy riff, though. And what's more, Paul Banks' lyrics are, atypically, not cringe-worthy (though "you wear those shoes like a dove" certainly walks that line). His vocals sounds different as well: less reverby, possibly doubled up, and more Michael Stipe-like. Come to think of it, "'cause today my heart swings" is the kind of lyric that seems straight from the R.E.M. frontman's notebook. As for the song's title, it must be something the band employs to write catchy choruses.

Pitchfork Media, commenting on the song.

Promotion

The single was released to radio on May 7, 2007.[2] Q101/WKQX Chicago was the first radio station to play "The Heinrich Maneuver", doing so on 27 April 2007 at 6:12pm CDT. The song was played by Steve Lamacq of BBC Radio 1 for the first time on British radio on 7 May 2007.[3]

"The Heinrich Maneuver" was also played regularly throughout the band's recent tour of Canada, along with the new songs "Pioneer to the Falls" and "Mammoth". Bootleg recordings from that tour have been widely circulated on music forums and P2P networks.

The full song is streaming on both the band's official site and MySpace and is also available for purchase at the iTunes Store.

The single has been released on 2-Track CD Single and two separate 7" formats in the UK on July 2.[4]

The song was used in an episode of MTV's The Hills and a 2012 AT&T commercial.[5]

Track listing

CD: Parlophone / CLCD894 (UK)

  1. "The Heinrich Maneuver" (Radio Edit) – 3:28
  2. "Mammoth" (Instrumental) – 4:16

7": Parlophone / CL894 (UK)

  1. "The Heinrich Maneuver" (Radio Edit) – 3:28
  2. "Concert Introduction" – 2:22

7": Parlophone / CLS894 (UK)

  1. "The Heinrich Maneuver" (Radio Edit) – 3:28
  2. "Wrecking Ball" – 4:30

Charting

The song peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart, #18 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, and #31 on the UK Singles Chart.

Music video

The video for "The Heinrich Maneuver" was released on June 26, 2007. It is a single take of the main character, a woman in a white dress, shown in extreme slow motion applying lipstick and walking towards her demise, being hit by a bus. This overlays three other characters whose reactions to the event unfold in a mixture of speed altered motion, initially proceeding forward and then reversing. A man taking out his cellphone, a vogue lady screaming, and a waiter running to the scene. The woman featured unwittingly walks in front of a moving bus whose impact is cut short by the screen turning black as the song's outro is cut short.

The first single to be released from the album is the twisted love song/ode to Cali "The Heinrich Maneuver." Interpol is teaming up with Elias Merhige -- best known for his work with Shadow of the Vampire and the cult-classic Begotten -- to shoot the video for this single.

—excerpt from the Interpol newsletter E-mail

References

External links