The last time we heard from Interpol was back in 2018, with the release of Marauder. Though Paul Banks took a detour with Muzz in the interim, Interpol had also started devising their seventh album over the course of 2020. That album is called The Other Side Of Make-Believe, and it was produced by Flood and Alan Moulder. It’s out in July.

Given its early gestation was in 2020, perhaps it won’t be surprising to hear the band worked on music remotely, alone — a major change for them. As Banks put it:

We usually write live, but for the first time I’m not shouting over a drumkit. 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. 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.

Along with the announcement, Interpol have shared lead single and album opener “Toni,” billed as “the first installment of a two-part dance film directed by Van Alpert” with the promise that the second half is not far off. “It was a blast working with Van Alpert on the video for our song ‘Toni,'” Banks said in a statement. “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.” Check it out below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Toni”
02 “Fables”
03 “Into The Night”
04 “Mr Credit”
05 “Something Changed”
06 “Renegade Hearts”
07 “Passenger”
08 “Greenwich”
09 “Gran Hotel”
10 “Big Shot City”
11 “Go Easy (Palermo)”

The Other Side Of Make-Believe is out 7/15 via Matador. Pre-order it here.