Interpol announce new album ‘Marauder’, drop lead single ‘The Rover’
Post-punk icons Interpol are back. The NYC rockers just released their first new material since 2014's half-cooked comeback record 'El Pintor'. This is also frontman Paul Banks’ first release since after the collaborative album with RZA in 2016.
The new single is titled with the brevity that one usually expects from the band and is called 'The Rover'. As the band confirmed via a live-streamed press conference held in Mexico City, 'The Rover' forms the lead single of their upcoming sixth studio album 'Marauder' set for an August 24 release via Matador Records.
'The Rover' launches into a single-string power-pop flavored guitar riff that forms an instantly pleasurable hook. Intertwined around it are Paul Banks' fuzzy vocals with barely discernable lyrics. It sounds like a callback to their earlier material and is a relief when compared to their stuff on 'El Pintor'.
In Pitchfork's review of the song, it was said that "you can let it loop for 20 or so minutes without anything specific coming into focus. Soft focus suits them, and “The Rover” will ever-so-slightly darken whatever antiseptic consumer space into which you tuck it," which, in Pitchfork's own strange way, is a way of reviewing a song positively, I think!
The band has been working on the record since December of last year with producer Dave Fridmann, who has been documenting the process right up until the final mixing in April, reports Spin. It also marks the first time they’ve worked with “an unfamiliar producer” since 2007’s 'Our Love to Admire'. As per Fridmann's notes, they recorded directly to two-inch tape at Tarbox Studios in upstate New York between December 2017 and April of this year.
In a press release, vocalist Paul Banks said, “Marauder is a facet of myself. That’s the guy that fucks up friendships and does crazy shit. He taught me a lot, but it’s representative of a persona that’s best left in song. In a way, this album is like giving him a name and putting him to bed.”
Marauder’s tracklist (which you can find below) features two interludes and, at just under 45 minutes, it is on the shorter side of Interpol albums. Despite this, the press release promises a “multi-layered and bold… adventurous departure in sound, intending to capture the intensity of their live performance," and it could be said with certainty that the post-punk revivalism on 'The Rover' fits the bill.
The album’s cover is definitely a political statement. It comes from a Garry Winograd photograph of Elliot Richardson, a former Attorney General famous for resigning after Nixon ordered him to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, in what’s known as the Saturday Night Massacre.
Interpol will also be debuting 'The Rover' live on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert tonight (June 8) at 11:35pm/10:35c on CBS.
Marauder Tracklist:
01. If You Really Love Nothing
02. The Rover
03. Complications
04. Flight of Fancy
05. Stay in Touch
06. Interlude 1
07. Mountain Child
08. NYSMAW
09. Surveillance
10. Number 10
11. Party’s Over
12. Interlude 2
13. It Probably Matters
Interpol have also revealed a run of international tour dates that include a pair of shows at California’s Hollywood Bowl and Greek Theater alongside The Kills and Sunflower Bean. And a February 16, 2019 gig set for New York’s Madison Square Garden with Car Seat Headrest and Snail Mail. Pre-orders of 'Marauder' placed through the official Interpol webstore get access to exclusive ticket pre-sales for the new dates. Find their full itinerary below.
Interpol 2018-2019 Tour Dates:
06/25 – Wien, AT @ Arena Wien Open Air
06/26 – Sesta Al Reghena, IT @ Sexto Nplugged
06/27 – Zagreb, HR @ INmusic Festival
07/01 – Glasgow, UK @ TRNSMT Festival
07/05 – Roskilde, DK @ Roskilde Festival
07/07 – London, UK @ Hyde Park (British Summer Time) *
08/24 – Brooklyn, NY @ House of Vans
09/14-16 – Chicago, IL @ Riot Fest
10/04 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl #
10/06 – Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theater #
11/06 – Tokyo, JP @ Akasaka Blitz
11/14 – London, UK @ Royal Albert Hall
11/24 – Copenhagen, DK @ TAP1
11/29 – Paris, FR @ La Salle Pleyel
02/16 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden ^
* = w/ The Cure
# = w/ The Kills and Sunflower Bean
^ = w/ Car Seat Headrest and Snail Mail