songwriting
Scott Devendorf (the National) Talks Bob Mould’s Beauty & Ruin
I've been a fan of Bob Mould's music for maybe half as long as he's been making it. In the '80s when we were in junior high, skateboarding and...
Simone Dinnerstein Talks Molly Drake
My husband will, on occasion, wax lyrical about British autumn afternoons, sitting, as a toddler, next to his mother and listening to her play...
Reggie Watts Talks Tune-Yards’ Nikki Nack
I'm not a huge lyrics person — I hear the music first. But sometimes tuning in to the words can clarify things. And when I checked out the lyric...
Kurt Wagner (Lambchop) Talks Tiny Ruins’ Brightly Painted One
The last thing I remember was lying on the operating room table staring at all these lights shaped like UFOs on the ceiling like a scene out of ER...
Cassie Grzymkowski (the Babies, Vivian Girls) Talks Stone Jack Jones’ Ancestor
I’d never heard of Stone Jack Jones before, and that’s why I wanted to write about his album. Talkhouse managing editor Michael Tedder reached out...
Mark Eitzel (American Music Club) Talks Jimi Goodwin’s Odludek
I can go on and on about songwriting and the coming end of our civilization (15 years from now). I have killed countless conversations with self...
Nathan Michel (Hospitality) Talks Eric Church’s The Outsiders
I know very little about Eric Church, or country music, for that matter. I decided to write about Church's new record because I thought my....
Aaron Beam (Red Fang) Talks Neil Finn’s Dizzy Heights
Most people will be familiar with Neil Finn through his work in the '80s with Crowded House. A few years after their release, I began to appreciate...
David Bazan (Pedro the Lion) Talks Sun Kil Moon’s Benji
This record moves me deeply. So does the previous Sun Kil Moon record, 2012's Among the Leaves, and the two records under Mark Kozelek's..
Mark Eitzel (American Music Club) Talks Damien Jurado’s Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son
Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son is a good name for a record that spins like a top shooting sparks. The production is enormous: lots...
Amy Ray (Indigo Girls) Talks Against Me!’s Transgender Dysphoria Blues
I’m not a music writer. I don’t really know how to distill songs and sounds into descriptive language. A great music critic can make you really...
Anaïs Mitchell Talks James Vincent McMorrow’s Post Tropical
I had never heard the Irish artist James Vincent McMorrow before signing on to write about his second album Post Tropical, but I did see...












