It’s been three years since the release of Our Love To Admire, the majestic third album by New York’s coolest band, Interpol.  Since the conclusion of that tour (which I attended in Boston that September), the band took time off to chase other projects and the future of their collective work was uncertain.  There were doubters, but those with true faith, such as myself, knew that they still had plenty of work to do.  Tonight, I am happy to learn that the wait is coming to an end.

These gentlemen have something to show you.

These gentlemen have something to show you.

If you click on Carlos, Dan, Paul, and Sam, you’ll be taken to their sparse website, and after a rather spooky new logo animation, you’ll be treated to a download link to their new song, “Lights.”  I just gave it a listen and I’m very happy with the results.  It’s very much an Interpol song; dark, brooding, and somewhat dreamy.  At nearly six minutes, it builds up over time and swells up into a beautiful denouement before fading out.  Paul is still singing about unconventional romance and traveling by waterway.  Basically, it sounds like “The Lighthouse” with a real guitar riff and a little extra muscle.  If you’ve been listening since Turn on the Bright Lights, you could see sounds like this coming.  Can’t wait to hear what the rest of these latest sessions have brought.

This gives me a good opportunity to discuss Paul Banks’ solo album, which he released last summer.  Julian Plenti Is… Skyscraper was a good album, but it’s kind of like when Dave Matthews takes a vacation from the band to record something by himself.  You sit there thinking, “This is pretty good… but I wonder what it would have sounded like if…”  In this case, you get a couple of songs that could have really used some support from the rest of the group, and other tracks that work fine on their own.  For instance, check out the video for the lead single, “Games for Days”:

The song is great.  In fact, this track actually sounds 90% like it was an Interpol song to begin with.  Meanwhile, the video is kind of like the whole Garth Brooks/Chris Gaines thing.  “Julian Plenti” is a pseudonym that Banks has used for years, and the scenario here has me thinking that Black Shirt Paul is his Interpol persona, while Hat and Glasses Paul is more like his sensitive-artist persona.  Chuck Klosterman talked about Chris Gaines in his new book (I’ll get to that some other time), but I thought of this first.

So, there you have it.  Once the new album comes out, I’m sure to pick it up and review it post-haste.  Till then, keep an eye on the wire.