Dengler Orchestrates Classical Switch for Interpol

Posted on Dec 18th 2009 4:37AM by Matt Glazebrook
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New York gloom-mongers Interpol have announced their next album will be less Joy Division and more 'Ode to Joy.' "There's some really classical stuff going on," singer Paul Banks told BBC 6 Music, adding that bassist Carlos Dengler has brought "total new levels of crazy sophisticated orchestration" to the work-in-progress tracks.

According to Banks, the sharp suited post-punkers' newly "atmospheric" sound has been informed by Dengler's work co-writing and scoring the 2008 short film 'My Friends Told Me About You.' The singer also claimed the new material marks a major departure from the band's previous efforts, 2002's 'Turn On the Bright Lights,' 2004's 'Antics' and 2007's 'Our Love to Admire.' "What we've worked on is a real step forward," he said. "It certainly doesn't sound like anything we've ever done before, to me."

By contrast, drummer Sam Fogarino told Paste Magazine last month that Interpol's fourth effort "falls back towards the first", a comment Banks now disputes. "I don't even know what he's talking about," Banks said. "Maybe (guitarist) Daniel (Kessler)'s progressions remind him of the first record." He also admitted that Fogarino's drumming ("really mean and really good") and a reverb-heavy guitar sound ("really drenchy") might contain echoes of 'Bright Lights.'

Interpol are currently in the studio and fans can expect a cinematic, orchestral album that sounds nothing like their debut (apart from the progressions, drums and guitar reverb) in early 2010.