Interpol Detail Grief And Heartbreak On Their Distressing New Song, ‘Gran Hotel’

Later this week, Interpol will release its seventh album The Other Side Of Make-Believe. It will be the band’s first project since 2018’s Marauder, and so far we’ve received three singles from the upcoming project. Interpol kicked things off with “Toni,” a record that didn’t stray too far away from the band’s post-punk aesthetic. Later came “Something Changed” and “Fables,” and now Interpol offers what could be the last single before the album’s release as they return with “Gran Hotel.”

Interpol’s latest single is quite the distressing release as Paul Banks revealed that the lyrics to “Gran Hotel” tell a story of “grief and heartbreak, of a character processing loss.” The new track also arrives with a video that captures the events that lead to the aforementioned loss. Banks called the visual a “work of art filled with mood and colour that we are very proud to share with you.”

Banks previously noted that The Other Side Of Make-Believe was a project the band started working on remotely back in 2020.

“We usually write live, but for the first time I’m not shouting over a drum kit,” he said. “Daniel [Kessler] and I have a strong enough chemistry that I could picture how my voice would complement the scratch demos he emailed over. Then I could turn the guys down on my laptop, locate these colorful melodies and generally get the message across in an understated fashion.”

You can listen to “Gran Hotel” above and watch the song’s music video, which is currently exclusive to Facebook, here.

The Other Side Of Make-Believe is out 7/15 via Matador. Pre-save it here.

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