“Mutual curiousity” is, Stuart Staples says, what has propelled Tindersticks’ new long-player.
‘Soft Tissue’ is the Nottingham-formed band’s 14th album proper since forming in 1991, at a time when their contemporaries were acts who would spearhead the Britpop scene a couple of years.
However, the quintet were far-removed from the pub rock of the nascent Oasis or the chirpy baggy pop which would kick off the career of Blur. Instead, Tindersticks’ blend of introspective, moody ballads and elaborate orchestration would set them aside from anything else around at that time, with their sprawling masterpiece of a self-titled debut justifying their ambition in making it a 21-track double LP running for close to 80 minutes.
Since then the band have weaved between genres and styles, but always distinctively Tindersticks thanks to their frontman’s distinctive croon.
Recently, 2019’s ‘No Treasure But Hope’ exhibited a live, natural sound, followed by ‘Distractions’ more experimental feel.
‘Soft Tissue’ takes those extremes, and in the flexible manner its title implies. Staples – who also produced the album – suggests that the band were inspired by a fervent shared desire – and capacity – to surprise themselves.
“We wanted to find a way to have the energy of the band playing together and that scrutiny of songwriting, but to not let up on how interesting the music can be sonically,” he says.
The album’s opener ‘New World’, achieves a balance between Julian Siegel’s brass arrangements, Dave Boulter’s pensive keys and Gina Foster’s soulful backing vocals while Staples’s searching reflections are flagged up in the song’s playful promo video: “I won’t let my love become my weakness.”
The video, as well as the album’s sleeve, were made with Staples’ artist daughter Sidonie Osborne Staples.
The album was recorded in Girona, in north-east Spain – not a “fancy studio”, says Staples, but one big enough to to play, cook, eat, hang out and listen to music together in. “To me, working with a band is a conversation. It’s about people. When a songwriter provides ideas for people to bring to life musically, it starts a conversation that everybody’s involved in and has some kind of ownership of.
“But at the same time I love to be surprised, it’s all about those conversations being alive.”
This article originally appeared in the Sheffield Star.
Also chief newshound at Jockrock
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