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Apr 07, 2022 By Mark Redfern Photography by Atiba Jefferson

Interpol have announced a new album, The Other Side of Make-Believe, and shared its first single, “Toni,” via a video for it that plays like a rural West Side Story. The Other Side of Make-Believe is due out July 15 via Matador. Van Alpert directed the “Toni” video. Watch it below, followed by the album’s tracklist and cover art, as well as the band’s upcoming tour dates, including their previously announced “Lights, Camera, Factions” co-headlining tour with labelmates Spoon (with support from The Goon Sax).

Interpol are Daniel Kessler, Paul Banks, and Sam Fogarino. The Other Side of Make-Believe is the band’s seventh album, the followup to 2019’s A Fine Mess EP and 2018’s Marauder full-length. The album began remotely in 2020 and in 2021 the trio got together in person in a rented house in the Catskills in Upstate New York to work on the material. Then the album was finished in North London later in 2021. Flood (aka Mark Ellis) and Alan Moulder produced the album and it was the band’s first time working with the former.

“We really extracted the honey out of this situation,” says Fogarino in a press release in regards to working on the album remotely at first.

Kessler agrees: “Working alone was raw at first, but has opened up a vivid new chapter for us.”

Banks was stuck in Edinburgh, Scotland for almost nine months during lockdown, but enjoyed the process of writing separately.

“We usually write live, but for the first time I’m not shouting over a drum kit,” he says. “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 colorful melodies, and generally get the message across in an understated fashion.”

Banks adds: “Flood told me the vocals on the demos evoked Mickey Rourke in Barfly, singing to a patron at the end of the tabletop, and we never felt the need to flip that smoky intimacy into something big and loud when it came to rehearse and record. I got a real kick out of doing the opposite.”

Of the album’s tone and themes, Banks indicates that this time Interpol leaned more to positivity. “The nobility of the human spirit is to rebound,” he says. “Yeah, I could focus on how fucked everything is, but I feel now is the time when being hopeful is necessary, and a still-believable emotion within what makes Interpol Interpol.”

Kessler agrees: “The process of writing this record and searching for tender, resonant emotions took me back to teenage years; it was transformative, almost euphoric. I felt a rare sensation of purpose biting on the end of my fishing rod and I was compelled to reel it in.”

Of the “Toni” video and working with director Van Alpert, Banks says: “It was a blast working with Van Alpert on the video for our song ‘Toni.’ We bonded over shared film inspiration as well as a passion for classic music videos by the likes of Glazer, Cunningham, and Jonze. Van, in my opinion, is in the club with these legends; and it’s exciting to watch him build his own enduring body of work.”

Alpert adds: “I wrote a crazy idea that I felt was new for Interpol, a hyper-modern, cinematic dance film. A ‘Lovers on the Run’ story, with a classic cliff-hanger ending. Dream job working for my all-time favorite band! Paul Banks ties everything together and elevated the concept, because he’s naturally a great actor, artist, and collaborator.”

Read our 2018 interview with Interpol on Marauder.

Since their last album, Interpol frontman Paul Banks released an album with Muzz, a new band that also featured Matt Barrick of The Walkmen and Josh Kaufman of Bonny Light Horseman. Their self-titled debut album came out in 2020 via Matador.

Read our 2020 interview with Muzz about their debut album.

The Other Side of Make-Believe Tracklist:

1. Toni
2. Fables
3. Into The Night
4. Mr Credit
5. Something Changed
6. Renegade Hearts
7. Passenger
8. Greenwich
9. Gran Hotel
10. Big Shot City
11. Go Easy (Palermo)

Interpol Tour Dates:

Monday, April 25 – Dallas, TX @ The Factory in Deep Ellum*
Tuesday, April 26 – Austin, TX @ ACL Live at the Moody Theater* SOLD OUT
Thursday, April 28 – Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre*
Friday, April 29 – San Diego, CA @ Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre* SOLD OUT
Saturday, April 30 – Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre*
Monday, May 2 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Union *
Tuesday, May 3 – Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom **
Thursday, May 5 – St. Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre*
Friday, May 6 – Chicago, IL @ Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom*
Saturday, May 7 – Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore Detroit*
Sunday, May 8 – Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theatre*
Tuesday, May 10 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem*
Wednesday, May 11 – Boston, MA @ Roadrunner*
Friday, May 13 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Philadelphia*
Saturday, May 14 – Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre* SOLD OUT
Sunday, May 15 – Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre*
Saturday, May 21 – Los Angeles, CA @ Rose Bowl, Pasadena – Just Like Heaven***
Saturday, May 28 – Mexico City, MEX @ Palacio De Los Deportes****
Wednesday, June 8 – Barcelona, Spain @ Sala Apolo
Thursday, June 9 – Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera Sound
6.11 – Porto, Portugal @ Primavera Sound
6.12 – Berlin, Germany @ Templehof Sounds Festival
6.14 – London, UK @ The Roundhouse SOLD OUT
6.15 – London, UK @ The Roundhouse
6.16 – Brussels, Belgium @ Ancienne Belgique SOLD OUT
6.18 – Paris, France @ Salle Pleyel SOLD OUT
6.19 – Landgraaf, Netherlands @ Pinkpop Festival
Thursday, August 25 – Asbury Park, NJ @ Stone Pony Summer Stage ^
Friday, August 26 – Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage #
Saturday, August 27 ­– Portland, ME @ Thompson’s Point ^
Sunday, August 28 – Providence, RI @ Bold Point Pavilion ^
Tuesday, August 30 – Columbus, OH @ KEMBA Live! Outdoor ^
Thursday, September 1 ­­– Cincinnati, OH @ Andrew J. Brady Music Center ^
Friday, September 2 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern %
Saturday, September 3 – Asheville, NC @ Rabbit Rabbit ^
Tuesday, September 6 ­– Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE Outdoors ^
Thursday, September 8 ­– Indianapolis, IN @ TCU Amphitheater at
White River Park ^
Friday, September 9 ­– St. Louis, MO @ Stifel Theatre ^
Saturday, September 10 – Oklahoma City, OK @ The Criterion ^
Tuesday, September 13 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Theater at ^
Virgin Hotels Las Vegas ^
Wednesday, September 14 – Paso Robles, CA @ Vina Robles Amphitheatre ^
Friday, September 16 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre ^
Saturday, September 17 – Portland, OR @ Pioneer Courthouse Square ^
Sunday, September 18 – Portland, OR @ Pioneer Courthouse Square ^

*plus TYCHO and Matthew Dear
** Matthew Dear
***plus The Shins, Modest Mouse, M.I.A and more
****plus Dry Cleaning
^ Spoon + The Goon Sax
# Metric, Interpol, Spoon

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