Julian Plenti... Is Skyscraper

The voice is familiar, the layered guitars are familiar and the languid drum beat is familiar – separating Julian Plenti from Interpol may be more difficult than first suspected. The debut album by the alter ego of Interpol’s frontman Paul Banks might be a side project but it is by no means a vehicle of indulgence.

Julian Plenti is the pseudonym under which Banks performed in his pre-Interpol days and he has resurrected the project to put together this 11 track release. Banks/Plenti has recently indicated that he will soon tour under this guise, lending further weight to the claims that this is serious attempt to carve a distinct identity outside Interpol.

So, is it any good? Well, most people who listen to this album are bound to be familiar with Interpol’s work over the past number of years and it’s impossible to frame any critique without reference to what Banks has done in the “day job”. On that basis, he has put together a decent collection of songs but it never quite reaches the heights of “Antics” or “Turn on the Bright Lights”. In fact, if you were the other members of Interpol and Banks released a belter of an album, you’d wonder why these songs never came out in any previous recording sessions. In this case, some of these tracks may well have been attempted but never developed to see the light of day. And that’s not to say they’re no good, rather it’s difficult to see where they would have fitted in on an Interpol album. This is Julian Plenti, Interpol–lite.

The album opens with a couple of tracks which set the tone for the remainder of the album. The opener, “Only If You Run” has all the hallmarks of a great Interpol track – there’s a cracking guitar loop which underpins the unmistakable flat vocals. This is swiftly followed up by “Fun That We Have”, where good use is made of electronics behind a firm baseline and yet more layered guitars. It’s only by the third and title track, “Skyscraper”, that we hear something a bit different, more Julian Plenti than Interpol. The single repeated lyric “Shake me, shake me, Skyscraper” doesn’t kick in until half way through the 3 minutes and adds to a beautifully constructed otherwise instrumental track. This would have been an excellent opening track if Plenti wanted to distinguish his solo work more. The album continues in a similar vein - some bold “Antics”-esque tracks followed by more subtle acoustic and piano numbers. Good enough, but it borders on pedestrian too often for comfort. “No Chance Survival” is a typical example – it begins with good intentions but never reaches a destination.

There’s good and bad on this record. Any Interpol fan will find appealing elements within the 37 odd minutes but it doesn’t quite stand up to scrutiny. There’s a solo album in Plenti for certain but this isn’t it.