Name: Tuxis Giant
Members: Matt O’Connor (vocals, guitar), Eleanor Elektra (guitar, vocals, accordion, harmonica, synth), Fenn Macon (bass), James Steinberg (drums, synth)
Interviewee: Matt O’Connor
Nationality: American
Recent release: Tuxis Giant's new album You Won't Remember This is out via Worry Bead.
Recommendation for New York City, USA: Everyone should take the Staten Island Ferry–it’s free! I also hear one of the ferries has a Dunkin’ Donuts on board, but that could be a rumor.
Things I am passionate about but rarely get to talk about: I’ll take any opportunity to rant about fantasy/sci-fi books. I recently word-vomited about Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun to my partner, which she graciously allowed. Generally speaking, I can go on talking about books and poems and songs forever.
Also, basketball. Talk to me about basketball.

If you enjoyed this Tuxis Giant interview and would like to stay up to date with the band and their music, visit them on Instagram, Facebook, and bandcamp.
 


Do you think that some of your earliest musical experiences planted a seed for your interest in writing lyrics or poetry? How and when did you start writing?

I’ve been writing for a long time. As a kid, I wrote poems and fantasy stories for fun. Songwriting came in high school–my parents bought me a guitar when I was 15 and I got obsessed.

Hearing artists like Nick Drake, Elliott Smith, and Death Cab for Cutie made me want to write songs of my own.

Entering new worlds and escapism through music and literature have always exerted a very strong pull on me. What do you think you are drawn to most when it comes to writing?

I’m a sucker for escapism.

The best kind of escapism, in my experience, brings you closer to yourself. I love when a book sends you to a far-off place, only to trick you into looking inward. That’s magic.

I also love writing that tries to render life as it really is; stuff that shows us the nuance and complexity of people without grandstanding or moralizing.

What were some of the artists and albums which inspired you early on purely on the strength of their lyrics? What moves you in the lyrics of other artists?

The first three Leonard Cohen albums, Nebraska by Bruce Springsteen, Townes Van Zandt’s self-titled album.

Those changed the game for me.



I’m really moved by the way those songwriters use such limited space to tell a story or convey a feeling. There’s purpose in every word said and unsaid, which lets them create an entire world in three minutes.

It is sometimes said that “music begins where words end.” What do you make of that?

The best writing, in my experience, pushes the reader into places where language can’t go. It creates a feeling you can’t articulate and dips into the sublime.

Good songs do that, too.

I have always considered many forms of music to be a form of poetry as well. Where do you personally see similarities? What can music express which may be out of reach for poetry?

If you want to be a stickler (which I sometimes am), poetry needs to exist separately from songs–it has its own meter and music, and should be taken on its own terms. But, if you’re not a stickler (which I sometimes am not), you can see the best songwriters are poets at heart.

Songs by Vic Chesnutt, Bill Callahan, and David Berman move me as much as my favorite poems.

The relationship between words and music has always intrigued me. How do you see it? In how far can music take you to places with your writing you would possibly not have visited without it?

It’s always a challenge. The best lyrics on earth sound stale with the wrong melody. I’m always refining the way I write songs, reconsidering the flow of lyrics and melodies, using emphasis and empty space to tell the story.

Luckily, I have very talented bandmates. One of our singles, “Days,” would’ve been a dud without the full band’s arrangement.

It’s one of the only songs I can’t perform solo–the vocals completely rely on the rest of the band.

What are areas/themes/topics that you keep returning to in your lyrics?

I always seem to write about houses. And dogs.

I must love hanging at home with my pets.

On the basis of a piece off You Won't Remember This, tell me about how the lyrics grew into their final form and what points of consideration were.

The process varies across the record.

“Silver Cup,” for example, was first written a few years ago, shelved, and then picked up again for the new album. I tweaked the lyrics over time, eventually landing on this final version.

“Heart Surgery,” on the other hand, came out pretty fast. I wrote the chord progression, which brought my mother’s open heart surgery to mind. As I mined those memories, more and more came out.



Calling a song “done” is the hardest thing–I could tweak the lyrics forever.

Over the years, I’ve gotten better at knowing when a song is ready and when it needs to be edited or scrapped. I’ve found I need to get out of my own way and listen to what the song wants.

Do you tend to start writing with what will be the first line of the finished lyrics? The chorus? At a random point? What are the words that set the process in motion?

It all depends on the song. I write every day, and most of it is garbage. But after enough work, you eventually arrive at a good line. Then that becomes a good stanza, which becomes a good verse, and so on.

It’s never a sure thing–I’ve written whole songs just to tear them apart and upcycle the lyrics. It’s a constant process of trial and error.

I'd love to know how you think the meaning or effect of an individual song is enhanced, clarified or possibly contradicted by the EPs, or albums it is part of. Does the song, for example, need to be consistent with the larger whole?

I never go into an album thinking “this is the theme, and all songs must adhere to it!” It usually happens the other way around: the album’s meaning is clarified by the songs themselves.

If I’m writing honestly and diligently, there’ll be throughlines and themes woven throughout the songs, giving the album a greater meaning.

I would love to know a little about the feedback you've received from listeners or critics about what they thought some of your songs are about – have there been “misunderstandings” or did you perhaps even gain new “insights?”

There have been a few times when someone’s gleaned a meaning I never consciously intended, which is kind of exciting. I do love when someone “gets” it, but it’s all subjective.

We have a song called “Unliving” from our album Goldie. Lyrically, it’s pretty imagistic … I knew what it meant to me, but I could never explain it.



But our bassist at the time made an interesting point: that “un-living” is a wish to undo the past and assuage regret.

He was right. I didn’t make the connection at first, but now I embrace it.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing song lyrics or poetry is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Writing is my main outlet, and it’s the thing I take most “seriously.” But I do get creative in other ways. I do stupid bits throughout the day, make up silly characters in my head, imagine elaborate backstories for our cat.

In fact, I probably have an album’s worth of songs about our cat. Maybe I’ll record them one day.