In the Green Room: Twine
Twine’s Tom Katsaras opens up about the pursuit for contrast, songwriting’s emotional core and finding confidence as the alt-country/noise-rock band drops their debut album, New Old Horse.
Image by Emily Wilson
Congrats on the release of New Old Horse! What does this record mean to you?
A big part of what I set out to do with Twine – and a joint understanding we’ve all come to – was trying to write songs that leaned heavily on contrast – a lot of tension and release and the classic loud-quiet [dynamic]. In hindsight, there’s a common thread through a lot of the songs about identity and coming to terms with yourself, but I think that’s very reflective of where I was when writing each of the songs.
How do you balance honesty and ambiguity in songwriting?
I think a good song has an emotional core to it. I’m always wanting to hit that. But at the same time, I do like to lean into ambiguity in the sense of not making it such a one-track-minded thing – I was trying not to have the songs read too much like a straight diary entry.
I always want a track to be about something because it makes it more interesting. Regardless of its obviousness to the listener, you can tell that a song is about something – even if you can’t tell what it’s about. Keeping that ethos is where the emotional core comes from.
Why does Twine lean towards noise rock?
I’ve always been really into the dynamic of songs, and noise rock just expands the realm of how in contrast things can be. There’s something about guitar feedback – I think it always sounds good and it’s quite easy in terms of being loud and close to the amp. But [there’s] a strong visceral reaction when you hear it in a song. Tying that to any sort of songwriting adds layers to the emotional outpouring in a way or matches a feeling.
How would you describe a Twine song?
It’s a fragile song delivered in a harsh and abrasive way when needed.
Twine’s debut album, Old New Horse, is out now via Kitty Records. They play the Exeter beer garden on December 7.
