Interpol are a band whose fame precedes them, their sound defining the 2000s for many fans. The last few decades have seen them steadily rise through the music industry, each album more successful than the last, their catalogue expanding and shifting through genres.
Interpol release Jesu’s “Toni”, the third instalment of their Interpolations project. 2022 saw the release of Interpol’s The Other Side Of Make-Believe to yet more critical acclaim, while the band’s collaborative project Interpolations helps Interpol’s music to venture further with the invitation for artists to collaborate and re-work songs from the record.
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The third instalment, Jesu’s reinterpretation of “Toni” from The Other Side Of Make-Believe is live, with Jesu toeing the line beautifully between reimagining the song entirely and paying tribute the original song. Jesu was formed after Justin Broadrick’s band Godflesh ended, a staple amongst noisy, industrial metal fans.
“I was overwhelmingly daunted to be asked to remix Interpol in my Jesu guise,” says Jesu’s Justin Broadrick. “They’re an incredible band, with such a solid discography behind them, and they just ooze identity, I considered that I could not do them any justice at all in my context. Luckily, I persevered, and even more luckily got to a place that both Interpol and I were very, very happy with; I attempted to merge both projects – capture Interpol and juxtapose the fundamental jesu concept – slow, heavy and riddled with loss/melancholy, even adding my own down tuned guitars to the mix. I hope people receive and comprehend this as we collectively do…..”
Jesu offer their own heaviness and weight to “Toni”, bringing a more guitar focused arrangement to the originally sparse song. There’s moments of Interpol, but the lens is shifted to that of the British experimental metal band. There’s moments of true heaviness, before much of the arrangement falls away with a looming tension, not un-reminiscent of Godflesh, but unequivocally Jesu. Interpol’s “Toni” is the album’s opener, n accurate representation of Interpol’s blend of punk, rock and alternative genres, while Jesu’s Interpolation is something else entirely; a dynamic, shifting and evolving arrangement built upon a well written and composed piece of music.
Read more about Justin Broadrick here.
