Interpol

Interpol is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Interpol, released on September 7, 2010, through Matador Records. The self-produced album was recorded at Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village. Bassist Carlos Dengler left shortly after the album's completion. Interpol was released to lukewarm critical reception, with some critics negatively comparing it to their prior albums. In a 2018 interview with Vice, lead singer Paul Banks claimed that tensions within the band, particularly regarding Dengler's departure, made the album "hard and unpleasant to make" and that "we suffered for this record a lot". However, despite its rocky production, the group was happy with the album. Banks claimed that "what ultimately wound up on that record is some of our best stuff", specifically citing "Lights" and "The Undoing" as two of the band's best songs yet. The lead single "Barricade" was released on August 3, 2010, followed by "Summer Well" on December 6; "Lights" on February 8, 2011; and "Try It On" on April 16, 2011. Background After Interpol's contract with Matador expired in 2006, the band signed on with Capitol Records. According to drummer Sam Fogarino, the group chose to go with a major label because they liked the staff at Capitol and hoped to get more exposure. The band was happy with the decision at first, but the label was sold shortly after they began recording their new album and the staff that they were working with was fired. This, coupled with the confusion of ever-changing staff and the exhaustive months that were spent meticulously recording the album, the group decided to amicably terminate their two-album deal and return to Matador after one record. Recording on Interpol started at Electric Lady Studios in early spring of 2009. The band announced that they were writing new songs in March of that year. Interpol was produced by the band, engineered by Greg Calbi and Claudius Mittendorfer, and mixed by Alan Moulder. Rapper Azealia Banks guested on backing vocals on "Memory Serves". Paul Banks told Vice that they chose to self-title the album because "there’s something laid bare about it, like, 'This is us and this is who we are.' I was never aware that there was a precedent that debut records were supposed to be self-titled. I was just like, 'It feels good to make this one self-titled.'”