Slim Twig is the moniker for a young man from Toronto named Max Turnbull who is a noted actor and musician. Over the past 10 years, he has released a lot of challenging, artful pop music in projects like Tropics, Archaic Women, Plastic Factory, U.S. Girls, and of course, Slim Twig. In 2010 he made a record called A Hound at the Hem but it didn’t see the light of day until 2012 when he released it via Toronto’s Pleasence Records and the Calico. Corp label he operates with his wife, Meghan Remy of U.S. Girls. The record is now seeing wide release via DFA Records who also plan to put out the next Slim Twig album. Here, Turnbull and I talk about house sitting in New Mexico and recording Darlene Shrugg tracks, Independence Day and Valentine’s Day, living in Toronto, Albuquerque cashing in on Breaking Bad, seeing Bob Dylan in Fargo and talking to people at the Blockbuster there, Fargo myths and Breaking Bad meth, the delayed release of A Hound at the Hem, Paper Bag Records, why Sof’ Syke was a safer alternative, becoming a popsmith, incorrect Canadian media labels that have been thrust upon Slim Twig, people get stuck in the past, samples and instrumentation, trying to change, employing different voices within the same song, Tom Waits and Paul McCartney voices, paying tribute to Serge Gainsbourg via a conceptual, narrative-based album, wanting to make a grander statement, impenetrable lyrics and the role of a backstory for a record, employing Owen Pallett, opaqueness and David Lynch, getting into acting before playing in bands at 13, writing from an indirect perspective, growing up in an art house, the desire to perform, seeing the Hives, how DFA got in the Slim Twig biz, Eric Copeland and Black Dice, the joy and pain of Discogs.com, the next Slim Twig LP might be a stoned protest record, playing a few shows, @twigoftoronto, the song “Hover on a Sliver,” and then it’s over.
Related links: slim-twig.com dfarecords.com vishkhanna.com
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