16 Jul Interview with Stuart Staples, lead singer of Tindersticks: “Portugal is the country we always long to visit”
Back in Portugal, a country that has shown them so much devotion over the past 30 years, to present their new album “Soft Tissue” on July 26 at Ageas Cooljazz, Tindersticks talk about the past, the future and… the complicated art of making shirts. In this interview and on stage, the unmistakable voice is, of course, Stuart Staples.
Your new album Soft Tissue explores themes like destruction, the search for connection, and the comfort found in memories. You’ve described it as “the same old, in a new shirt.” So—what exactly is this new shirt?
I am not sure I said that, but maybe I should claim it! Perhaps our first álbum was bare chested and we have been in the shirt design business ever since – Always searching for right weight of cloth, cut, colours, details – So many details in the making of a good shirt.
You’ve often said that composing music helps you make sense of what’s going on inside you, as well as around you. In these socially turbulent times, do you find it easier to draw inspiration for new songs—as “a man of soft tissue in a world of glass and steel”?
Songs come when I least expect them. Sometimes there are long periods of nothing and I wonder if it will happen again. Sometimes there is a great flood, as was the case for ‘Soft tissue’. In 2 days “New World”, “Always a Stranger”, “The secret of breathing” came from nowhere. It never feels easier or harder, but it is always a struggle. The essence reached for is always just beyond.
On “Soft Tissue”, did you feel more free to experiment with new sounds, techniques, and influences than you did 10 or 15 years ago?
10 years ago we were preparing “The waiting room” album, have just made the evolving soundscapes for the Ypres museum and the electronic score for “Les Salauds”. Around the corner were “Minute bodies”, the “High life” score, “Arrhythmia”. It was a very free, exploring period (that I am sometimes nostalgic about!). All of these (and Distractions / the song writing of No treasure but hope) feed into Soft tissue.
In March and April, you returned to North America for your first tour there in 16 years. Do you feel the band is currently in a kind of “sweet spot”—creatively and as performers?
I guess so. Its all about how we feel together and about the music we have created together. It is feeling good to share this with others.
For over three decades, the Portuguese audience has shown a deep and consistent love for Tindersticks, renewed with each album and tour. How do you explain the longevity of that connection? Is the feeling mutual?
I can’t really explain this. Portugal is the country we always look forward to visiting whether playing our music or not. We always take every opportunity to enjoy being there and are humbled by the continuing interest in what we are making.
And finally, what can fans expect from your return to Portugal on July 26th at Ageas Cool Jazz in Oeiras?
The same old, new shirts. We are looking forward to it.
📅 26 July
📍 Ageas Cooljazz, Cascais
🕗 10.30 p.m.
🎟️ Tickets/ + info: https://cooljazz.seetickets.com/event/tindersticks-ganso-ageas-cooljazz-2025/hipodromo-manuel-possolo/3304411?src=#op1
