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May 18, 2022 By Mark Redfern Photography by Ebru Yildiz

Interpol are releasing a new album, The Other Side of Make-Believe, on July 15 via Matador. Now they have shared its third single, “Fables.” Listen below, followed by the band’s upcoming tour dates.

Frontman Paul Banks had this to say about the new song in a press release: “A breezy vocal with optimistic lyrics and a bouncy drum beat evocative of classic R&B with a nod to the golden age of hip hop. It’s a summer jam and a piece of music we are particularly proud of.”

When the album was announced they shared a video for its first single, “Toni.” That was quickly followed by its second single, “Something Changed,” via a video that was a continuation of the video for “Toni.”

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,” said Fogarino in a previous press release in regards to working on the album remotely at first.

Kessler agreed: “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 said. “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 added: “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 indicated that this time Interpol leaned more to positivity. “The nobility of the human spirit is to rebound,” he said. “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 agreed: “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.”

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.

Interpol Tour Dates:

May 21 Pasadena CA, US Just Like Heaven Festival
May 28 Mexico City, MX Palacio de los Deportes
Jun 8 Barcelona ES, Sala Apolo
Jun 9 Barcelona, ES Primavera Sound Festival
Jun 11 Porto, PT Primavera Sound Festival
Jun 12 Berlin, GE Tempelhof Sounds Festival
Jun 14 London, UK The Roundhouse
Jun 15 London, UK The Roundhouse
Jun 16 Brussels, BE Ancienne Belgique (AB)
Jun 18 Paris, FR Salle Pleyel
Jun 19 Landgraaf, NE Pinkpop Festival
Aug 25 Asbury Park NJ, US Stone Pony Summer Stage
Aug 26 Toronto ON, CA Budweiser Stage
Aug 27 Portland ME, US Thompson’s Point
Aug 28 Providence RI, US Bold Point Pavilion
Aug 30 Columbus OH, US KEMBA Live! Outdoor
Sep 1 Cincinnati OH, US Andrew J. Brady Music Center
Sep 2 Atlanta GA, US The Eastern
Sep 3 Asheville NC, US Rabbit Rabbit
Sep 6 Pittsburgh PA, US Stage AE Outdoors
Sep 8 Indianapolis IN, US TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park
Sep 9 St Louis MO, US Stifel Theatre
Sep 10 Oklahoma City OK, US The Criterion
Sep 13 Las Vegas NV, US The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas
Sep 14 Paso Robles CA, US Vina Robles Amphitheatre
Sep 16 Seattle WA, US Paramount Theatre
Sep 17 Portland OR, US Pioneer Courthouse Square
Sep 18 Portland OR, US Pioneer Courthouse Square
Nov 4 Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, Jeunesse Arena (w/ Arctic Monkeys)
Nov 5 São Paulo, Brazil, Primavera Sound
Nov 8 Curitiba, Brazil, Pedreira Paulo Leminski (w/ Arctic Monkeys)
Nov 10 Asunción Kilk Fest, Paraguay Chico, Chile
Nov 12 Santiago, Chile, Primavera Sound
Nov 13 Buenos Aires, Argentina, Primavera Sound
Nov 15 Lima, Peru, Lima Arena 1 (w/ Arctic Monkeys)

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