On Friday 19 October 2012, Matador and Rhythmethod will release Banks, the second solo album from Interpol vocalist/guitarist Paul Banks.

With Banks (LP/CD/digital), Paul ditches the Julian Plenti alter-ego, and the resulting ten song album is a tour-de-force of exhilarating minor-key intensity.

Banks was recorded in New York and Connecticut with producer Peter Katis (Interpol, The National, Shearwater, Jónsi). The album is personal and epic, catchy and serpentine – much like your favourite Interpol albums – with Paul’s wry humour, bare emotion, and varied influences all in full effect.

Banks’ first solo album found him assuming the alter ego of Julian Plenti, but now he’s jettisoned this for his semi-eponymous album, Banks, credited to Paul Banks. And where 2009’s Julian Plenti Is…Skyscraper was culled largely from songs pre-dating Interpol (as far back as the mid ’90s),Banks – with all new material written in the past few years (with the exception of ‘Summertime Is Coming’) – is a vivid documentation of Banks in the here and now, and his most abjectly personal work to date. “Yeah, I suppose I wanted to simplify things this time around,” he explains. “Julian Plenti was something that I had to do, but once it was done, I didn’t need to hold on to it. I didn’t want the burden of shtick for these songs. If anything, I’m trying to draw attention away from the notion of a persona this time. I’m just making music and hoping to let it speak for itself.”

Banks track-listing:

1. The Base
2. Over My Shoulder
3. Arise, Awake
4. Young Again
5. Lisbon
6. I’ll Sue You
7. Paid For That
8. Another Chance
9. No Mistakes
10. Summertime Is Coming

Paul Banks Banks is out 19 October 2012 via Matador / Rhythmethod