Interlaker - Interlaker (2024) Hi-Res

Anyone who has loved rock music over the last decade or so will be familiar with David Jakes and Jack Wrench.

Jakes was the broodingly intense singer with Lonely The Brave; a complex character blessed with a once-in-a-generation voice. And Wrench was the explosive drummer with Arcane Roots, a man equally at home with math-rock complexity and sheer rock power.

Songs such as 'The Hunger' and 'Ghostride' summon up elemental rock muscle in a way that few have been able to muster in recent times, while 'Call Out The Wolves' and 'Coming Out' have a grasp of rock dynamics that could more than hold their own alongside their grunge-era heroes. “We both approached recording the album with a zero-pressure attitude,” asserts Wrench. “We were both just up for writing music again.” That method allowed Jakes, who holed up in his parents’ house over the summer to record his parts solo, to “put everything on the line” in his performances, recording as and when the mood struck, in his constant quest for vocal perfection.

“I tend to over-analyse everything, but it seemed to work out alright,” says Jakes, with typical self-deprecation. “I’m a bit fixated on my vocals.” He won’t be the only one. His voice, always the purest expression of emotion even amidst a maelstrom of instrumental chaos, scales new peaks throughout the album. The difference this time around is, his range has been extended, pushing his voice into previously unexplored locations. The album also features the positively upbeat likes of End Unknown and Miracle and the fragile beauty of Carving Circles and Be The One, alongside the U2-play-Sabbath alt-rock stridency of Bottomless Pit and Wishes. Make no mistake, Interlaker’s ambitions for the band know few limits, with Jakes targeting “the peaks that Lonely The Brave and Arcane Roots achieved – and beyond”. In a changed environment for rock music, both acknowledge that could take time, but now the duo are back from the brink, they’re determined to build things the right way.