Words: Karl Johnson | Photo: Atiba Jefferson

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Finding himself stranded in Edinburgh due to the grounding nature of the early pandemic, New Yorker Paul Banks was forced to make himself comfortable, spending his days with a pen, pad and his favourite cream-coloured bass guitar. During the almost nine months that the Interpol vocalist spent in Scotland, he exchanged scratchy demos with guitarist Daniel Kesler, little by little the Interpol wheels started to gain traction. The result would be their new album ‘The Other Side of Make-Believe’.

“Daniel and I have a strong enough chemistry that I could picture how my voice would complement the scratch demos he emailed over. Then I could turn the guys down on my laptop, locate these colourful melodies and generally get the message across in an understated fashion”, mentions Banks, who admits the trio usually write together live, “for the first time I’m not shouting over a drumkit” he states. With a forced isolation separating the core Interpol members, a new way of working was born out of necessity, seeing Banks stitch positive emotion, hope and reconnection into the seams of his storytelling, while Kessler’s winding and hypnotic guitar parts and Samuel Fogarino’s signature drumming, moving the band’s sound into mesmeric territory.

‘The Other Side of Make-Believe’, the New York City outfit’s seventh LP will hit the shelves July 15th, the video for new single ‘Toni’ acts as the first instalment of a two-part dance film directed by Van Alpert, with the second chapter to follow soon. Interpol will set out on a world tour, stopping in London for two dates at The Roundhouse on the 14th and 15th of June.

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