Jeff Tweedy has a mantra for these testing times: “Creativity eats darkness.” Chatting from Dortmund, Germany while touring with Wilco, the group’s frontman confirms his first solo record since 2020’s Love Is The King is in part a salve against debilitating outside forces. “As small groups of humans it’s hard to have much impact on the shape of thing globally,” he tells MOJO’s James McNair. “You control what you can and double-down on beauty so you’re not just being pounded by existential crisis.”
A triple LP, no less, Twilight Override’s 30 songs variously explore the past, present and future. “But they jump around in those different modes, because the future is not inoculated from the past.” The word ‘twilight’ references both the time of day when ennui tends encroach, and Tweedy’s own, not-too-distant twilight years. He says the music he makes daily working 9-5 hours helps him “Let go of heaviness and up the wattage of my own light.”
Recorded at his Chicago studio The Loft in late 2024 / early 2025, the LP’s reflective, mostly acoustic guitar-based material also utilises violin drones, threadbare organ and pedal steel. Moments of improvisation and real-world echoing dissonance sit alongside a song titled Lou Reed Was My Babysitter and dream-like spoken-word track, Parking Lot, in which Tweedy references the old New Seekers / Coca-Cola ad hit, “I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing (In Perfect Harmony). “It’s a sincere wish,” he stresses. “The thing that has been most sustaining for me is giving myself permission to sing, even though I’m not a great singer.”
Twilight Override sees Tweedy joined by his children Sammy (vocals) and Spencer (drums) alongside singers Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart, guitarist James Elkington and bassist Liam Kazar, all of whom are members of his solo touring band. “Songs like Blank Baby and Stray Cats In Spain were written with their gift for vocal harmony in mind,” says their leader. It’s Feel Free, though - a seven-minute song advocating freedom of expression - which Tweedy sees as the record’s centrepiece. “It’s saying forget yourself; be unburdened by yourself. I’d like for people to add their own couplets to it and make it the world’s longest song.”
Asked to sum-up Twilight Override succinctly, Tweedy is a little cautious. “It’s not that I can’t think of things to say; more that if you say one thing about a record you see it written a thousand times” he explains. “I think this one is special, though, a really beautiful evolution. It’s a big open-hearted outpouring, the defining statement of my solo career so far. I’m not holding back or protecting myself, and I don’t care if people think a triple record’s too long. I mean, Fuck you!”, he laughs. You don’t have to listen to it…”
This interview features in the latest issue of MOJO, on sale now. More info and to order a copy HERE!
