Just when it seemed Interpol would never recapture their former glory, the band made their best album in nearly two decades. On This Mirror Weighs a Ton, they rediscover the energy and songwriting that once made them so special.
But let’s go back to 2010. Shortly after recording Interpol’s fourth album, Carlos Dengler left the band. It soon became clear that he had been far more than just their bassist. El Pintor and Marauder, the group’s next two records, sorely missed his basslines - those signature excursions up and down the fretboard that added another melodic layer to the songs and sometimes, particularly during extended outros, broke them wide open. You could hear it in singles like the phenomenal PDA and Slow Hands, as well as in deep cuts such as Public Pervert.
And here’s the thing: after Dengler’s departure, Interpol somehow stopped writing songs like Leif Erikson, A Time to Be Small, and The Lighthouse. These were unconventional guitar songs, each harboring its own mystery - and they were a large part of what made Interpol such a singular band.
Paul Banks, who took over bass duties in the studio, never proved especially suited to the role. Nowhere is that more apparent than on 2022’s The Other Side of Make-Believe, an album that is a genuine slog to get through. Songs like Fables, Mr. Credit, and Greenwich pass by without a single compelling moment. What happened to the compositional finesse of the band’s earlier records? Its No. 178 peak on the Billboard 200 speaks for itself.
I had all but given up hope that Interpol might return to their former form. Then 2026 arrived, bringing an extensive NME interview with Paul Banks, in which the frontman discussed the band’s new album, This Mirror Weighs a Ton, in detail.
Beyond the obligatory claims that this is our most important album, Banks compared the new material to Massive Attack while promising a guitar-heavy record packed with killer outros. He also confirmed that keyboardist Brandon Curtis and bassist Brad Truax - both members of Interpol’s touring lineup for the past 15 years - had officially joined the band. Most intriguingly, Truax had written and recorded his own bass parts for the new album.
This is worth pausing over. When I saw Interpol perform in Kraków in 2023, Truax not only played like Carlos D., but even adopted his signature poses. It struck me as funny at the time, though I was curious to hear what he might do in the studio. On This Mirror Weighs a Ton, Truax seems to have taken the fake it till you make it maxim to heart, turning in a surprisingly strong performance. At several points, I could have sworn Carlos D. was back in the band.
You can hear it on See Out Loud, one of the album’s singles. It is a classic propulsive Interpol song in the vein of The Heinrich Maneuver, but delivered with a lightness and energy the band have not mustered in years. Around the two-minute mark, guitarist Daniel Kessler’s voice enters the mix. He should sing far more often - his vocal provides an excellent counterpoint to Banks. The previously road-tested Wings on Fire and Wake Up hit with similar force; the latter is one of the album’s most compelling songs and brings to mind C’mere.
As for the promised Massive Attack influence, I could hear it only on the title track, which opens the album. A beat reminiscent of Teardrop guides the song at a patient pace, while Banks reminds us that he still has a gift for portraying people adrift in the modern world: Fade in symphonic / Like the phone that’s dialing / Alone again. There are more moments to admire, including the phenomenal, piano-led Enemy, where Banks is joined by backing vocals from his wife, Juliet Seger-Banks, and Iron City - another love letter to New York, following NYC and Next Exit.
Interpol fare much better at delivering on the promised killer outros. These codas were a defining feature of many songs on their debut and Antics, only to all but disappear as the band’s career went on. The thunderous bass and accompanying strings of Ever the Actor, along with the way Bird and the Serpent brushes against the brilliance of A Time to Be Small, make one thing clear: a sense of mystery has returned to Interpol’s music.
I keep wondering what happened within this band to make them play fearlessly again. Perhaps returning to New York, where the album was recorded, did them good. Or perhaps producer Andrew Wyatt deserves some of the credit - in recent years, he has not so much revived Liam Gallagher’s solo career as built it from the ground up. Whatever the reason, Interpol have made another major album, one that will stand alongside their debut and Antics as a defining release in their career.