I always wanted to be an album band.
Daniel Kessler talks about This Mirror Weighs a Tonfrom the piano in the living room Andrew Wyatt and why after eight albums Interpol keep looking for the strangest path.
Interpol was born in New York at the end of the 90s and has been one of the most influential alternative rock bands for more than two decades. Turn on the Bright Lights (2002) put them on the map; The seven albums that came later built their own universe where darkness always coexists with something that moves. This Mirror Weighs a Tonhis eighth album, comes out on August 28 and was recorded in New York for the first time in 10 years, in the musician and producer’s studio Andrew Wyattwith live bassist brad playing for the first time on a band album. Daniel Kesslerguitarist and founding member, talked about the process, about how to write without forcing the paths and about why one of the most emblematic bands of post punk is still unable to sit still.
Indie Rocks!: How was the process of making this new album?
Interpol: It was a lot of fun to make, which is always a good sign. Making records is a privilege, but it can be difficult: sometimes you write a song that feels good in the rehearsal space, take it to the studio and it doesn’t turn out the way you want. You don’t always know why she’s not being as expressive as you expected. But this record was a lot of fun to write in rehearsal and a lot of fun to record in New York for the first time in 10 years. It was amazing to work with Andrew Wyattwho is a dear friend and such a talented artist. It fit perfectly with everything he brought to the table: the keyboards, the arrangements, the orchestrations. It was like having a fifth member. Everything felt in sync.
And it was great to have bradour long-time live bassist, playing on the record for the first time and writing with us for the first time. It all felt fun and with the right momentum, like swimming in the right current. When it feels like that, I think everything flows, you have good chemistry and you just have to follow your instincts.
GO!: When I heard the album for the first time I was very surprised. It feels very fresh for the band. How do you see it?
YO: Thank you. I think we are always evolving musicians. Paulfor example, is an artist who is always evolving, always seems to be improving, changing, learning new things every day. He has that deep need to progress and create.
For me, I love writing music as much as I did as a teenager. I have a deep need to write every day. And when you feel that, you constantly try to find new things to say. I think you also learn tools the more records you make: sometimes while writing something, you stop for a moment and think: “what if you don’t take this path, but this other one, which is weirder, but maybe takes you somewhere you haven’t been before?” “Bird and the Serpent” is a good example: the progression is quite strange, but at the same time it is a journey. I don’t think I could have written it by deliberately sitting down and trying. I wrote it simply by feeling it. I think there’s a need to push myself and push ourselves as a band while writing, and when that’s the case, finding new paths doesn’t feel as difficult.
And a song like “Sudden” It has a very special memory. We made almost the entire album in the studio Andrew on the Lower East Side, but I started that song at his house. I was in his living room recording a demo on the piano and I started playing: I had the song ready and I started playing it just like that. Andrew I was putting up microphones, and suddenly I realized that brad and Paul They had come down to play with me, and Andrew I was loving her. And that’s where the idea of recording it came from. So my piano shot is me playing in the living room Andrew Wyattwith birds outside the window, in the middle of New York City. These are things that are not common there. It felt like being a teenager, going to a friend’s house to play, keeping things simple and uncomplicated. Recording studios can sometimes be the opposite of that.
GO!: I read that there is a strange moment on this album where you sing. And I also want to talk about your guitar tone, which I think is very beautiful on this album. How did you achieve it?
YO: Yeah, I should push my guitar tone more, I guess. The truth is that I use the same amplifier with which I have recorded practically every album of Interpol. Once I find something I like, I feel like it’s more of an extension of me as a person. I have used this little amplifier on every album. For me it is part of me.
What does get complicated is that I like to write at home with a classical guitar, something very simple. The one I have in New York is the one I got when I was 14: it doesn’t sound very good, but from then on the challenge is figuring out how to make all of that sound good through an electric guitar, how to be expressive that way. Paul He’s very good with guitar tones, we’re always building on that. But I think you try to do things that feel right for the songs and for the expression of the songs, and not force things that don’t feel like a part of you. These are simply the tones that felt right for this body of work.
GO!: How is the live show going with this new material? And most importantly: are we going to see them soon in Mexico?
YO: We’ve been playing four new songs live and it’s a lot of fun. It takes some work figuring out How are you going to do it: it is a humble challenge to go from recording the songs to presenting them live, they are two very different things. But it has been very fun. We are going to continue incorporating more songs.
And yes, we will surely return to Mexico. It’s definitely one of our favorite places to play in the world. There is already something announced: we are touching the Tecate Peninsula in Tijuana. I don’t want to say more than what has already been announced, but there are plans with the album. Nothing more concrete that I can confirm yet.
GO!: For someone listening to Interpol for the first time, what song would you recommend entering their discography?
YO: That’s a very difficult one. I think it’s a question that should really be answered by anyone but me. What I love about our band is that if you go to a concert Interpol and you ask 10 people what that song should be, you might get 10 different answers. I’ve always liked that. I never wanted us to be known for a big single. I always wanted to be an album band. The songs that fans would probably recommend Interpol would not necessarily be the singlesbut the deep cuts of the albums. Those are the songs that spoke to me about other bands, and they are probably the ones that I would think about us too.
If I have to choose one, I really love “The Lighthouse” from our third album, the last song on that album. That song moves me a lot. Although someone else might listen to it and say, “That’s a very depressing song. I love it.”
GO!: For someone going to an Interpol show for the first time, what mentality do you recommend going with?
YO: With a very open mind. Now that we’re releasing our eighth album, which is incredible and a little mind-blowing, I’m very proud of all of our albums. They all have something that genuinely represents the band. So depending on the context of the show, whether it’s our own show or a festival, we try to represent each of those records in some way. For me it’s like taking someone on a tour. With an open mind you can live that complete journey.
GO!: In closing: describe Interpol in three words.
YO: That’s very difficult. I would say emblematic, nostalgic and… energizing. Something like that.
