Skip to content
Premieres

Paul Banks Plays Bittersweet ‘Young Again’ on Audience-Free ‘Letterman’

Paul Banks on 'Letterman'

Paul Banks has “always been fascinated by” skyscrapers, the Interpol frontman, who has also recorded under the alias Julian Plenti, told SPIN’s David Marchese this month. Last night, as a crane dangled 90 stories above West 57th Street in Manhattan amid Hurricane Sandy, that fascination might have taken on a familiarily Banks-y grimness. It didn’t stop the dapperly downcast singer from stopping by Late Show With David Letterman, which along with Late Night With Jimmy Fallon held its Monday night episode with no audience. Banks performed “Young Again,” a track from new Matador solo album Banks. Including an electric cellist, the five-piece expertly blended ennui-ridden sleekness with lyrics you’d more often expect to hear in an uplifting context: “I feel young again / Thanks a lot.” Letterman even introduced Banks as the lead singer of Dangling Crane. (Embed via Stereogum.)