Talkhouse Podcast

On this week's show, we pair two of the greatest living songwriters, artists who've reimagined what the form can look like, and what it can accomplish. The Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt and ex-Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker each have great new music in the world; when I heard the latter was coming to NYC, I instantly knew I had to try to get these two together in person for a Talkhouse Podcast convo. Thankfully, when presented with the idea, both were psyched! Over cups of tea at Hook and Fade Studios in Brooklyn (before the pandemic), the guys sat down for a delightfully freewheeling conversation about songwriting — and how they both love to subvert its norms in different ways — as well as the vastly different approaches they took to making their new LPs. But of course with these two, there's so much more here, including (but not limited to!): a moving discussion of reunions with their showbiz fathers who had abandoned them; the bad omen that nearly caused Jarvis to quit music in the year 2000; why Stephin