Interpol have spent more than two decades building one of rock’s most immediately recognizable sounds, and on This Mirror Weighs A Ton, they find new ways to stretch it without sacrificing the tension and atmosphere at its core. The band’s ninth album and first in four years follows 2022’s The Other Side Of Make-Believe.

Produced by Andrew Wyatt and mixed by Dave Fridmann, This Mirror Weighs A Ton also marks Interpol’s first time recording an album in their hometown of New York City in more than a decade. Wyatt, whose credits include ROSALÍA and Charli xcx, helps Paul Banks, Daniel Kessler and Sam Fogarino open up the arrangements while preserving the stark precision that has defined the band since its earliest days.

The familiar pieces remain firmly in place: Kessler’s sharply drawn guitars, Fogarino’s propulsive rhythms and Banks’ unmistakable baritone. But synthesizers, strings, acoustic guitars, percussion and woodwinds now move through the songs, giving Interpol a broader vocabulary. “Wounded Soldier” introduces electronics into the mix, “Ever The Actor” incorporates layers of piano, and “Bird And The Serpent” closes with a woodwind flourish.

That expanded approach is very apparent on the title track and “See Out Loud.” “This Mirror Weighs A Ton” grows from a sparse foundation into a layered piece driven by warped bass and wordless vocals, while “See Out Loud” leans closer to the tightly wound guitar attack longtime listeners know well. Together, the songs show two sides of where Interpol are headed, one exploring unfamiliar textures and the other drawing fresh energy from the band’s established strengths.

Lyrically, reflection runs throughout the album. Banks has described the songs as coming from a period of taking stock, influenced in part by becoming a father since the previous Interpol record. That introspection fits the album’s title, with questions of perception, clarity and self-examination running through a collection that repeatedly looks inward without standing still.

Across 12 tracks, which also include “Iron City,” “Wings On Fire,” “So Rides The Reindeer,” “Darling Thoughts,” “Wake Up,” “Enemy” and closing track “Sudden,” This Mirror Weighs A Ton captures a band still finding possibilities inside a sound they’ve spent nearly three decades developing. Interpol remain unmistakably Interpol, but the edges have widened, the arrangements have opened up, and there are new details waiting in the shadows.