When I meet Twin Shadow, born George Lewis Jr. at a Toronto hotel he seems a bit worn out. In such situations I usually temper my tougher questions with fluff, but realized quickly that, while Lewis’s body was fatigued, his mind was sharp enough to handle deeper questions about art, family and God.

We touched on all those subjects and more. With his sophomore record Confess set to drop July 12, perhaps his thoughts on it had only begun to form, removed from the process of creating but preparing to share it with the world.

Where did the concept for the “Five Seconds” video [watch below] come from?

I brought it, I wrote the whole thing out. We tried with a few directors but they all thought it was too ambitious. Keith Musil who ended up directing it, and another from the album coming out as well, was the only one who didn’t get scared, period. We realized as much of my idea as we possibly could.

What was the issue?



I intimidated people by sending them, like, half of a novel I had written. It was like “This is great, but how the fuck are we going to do it?” I wanted more of an impression from the story I was telling, and there was some excitement over essentially making a [short] movie. Keith was the first who could boil it down into a music video.

The opening voice-over does sound extracted from a book, I assumed one that had been written years ago.

It’s my own work, with my good friend Eric Green. I had written a story when I was on tour and he was the first person I showed it to. He edited down, we added more, and kept going back and forth with it. It’s a continuing project, we’re still trying to figure out the right home for it.



How would you describe the novel? Abstract, or really driven by a narrative?

It’s pretty poetic, in a way. There’s flowery language in it. But with classic storytelling – “He went there, she went here ...” It’s not supposed to be “Twin Shadow writes a book,” it’s George Lewis Jr. becoming an author. I don’t want to confuse people and we have more videos based on the story, so we’re taking our time [with a proper release].

The action is pretty intense. Any real risk of injury involved?

We used real stuntmen. We went to a stunt class with them, they let us throw them around. They took a beating!

People think because we filmed in California the shoot was warm, but it was 32 degrees on top of a mountain with high winds. Intense. Started at 4 a.m. and finished at 10 p.m. Shitty weather and tons of fog.

What is the endgame of an artistic, conceptual music video like this? They certainly aren’t the powerful promotional tools they once were.

There’s no platform right now for it to be an appreciated art form. But they’ve always been promotional tools; that’s why the label pays for them. The best you can do is split the difference between goals. I don’t have a hard time seeing it as an advertisement.

What kind of life have the songs on Confess had in concert?


Very fresh. We’ve played the new material about four times now. But we’re about to play them a lot!

Does music feel like a confession at all, in that you might be apprehensive about what you’re saying in your songs?

I think so. Sometimes there are things no one wants or needs to hear about. Some things are too sacred to talk about [in music]. Like I don’t necessarily want to hear songs about a great family relationship, about how tight they are. That feels sacred, perfect. Dysfunction, maybe, but love? You can sing a song about that but it’s not effective if the subject is perfect as is. I don’t like the idea that everything should be on the table.

That a very socially aware way of looking at it. In every context, whether making art or sitting down to dinner with friends, there are limits to the conversation.

There’s always people who can break that rule. Certainly music can breach a number of topics that you can’t talk about in personal exchanges. But there will always be things that are, if not taboo, just not very classy or even interesting to talk about.

What subjects did you find yourself coming back to when writing the album?

The word “believe” came up constantly. At one point I thought it was in every single song. Almost a religious vibe going on, questioning belief both in a God and other people. That’s a big theme.

Is there a literal spirituality in that? I mean to ask, does religion play a role in your life?

It’s something I didn’t think about for a long time, but more now. I think you can only be an atheist for so long before you need something to grab onto. “God” is no different to me than anyone else I care about, there’s a need to believe in them.

Do you write about those people a lot?

That’s all I write about. Some people get upset when they learn a song is about them, some never find out. I don’t make it a point to tell them that. That might be a trite thing for a musician to do; “I wrote a song about you!” But yeah [people I know], that’s all I write about. I don’t write songs about rivers, or birds, or the sky.

We’re still a few weeks away from release. Is there any second-guessing in your mind after an album is “finished”?

My hands are tied. Second-guessing always comes right before I mix. That’s the point before you tie your hand. A lot of that happens. I cancelled the original mixing, postponed it a week. I felt like a kid getting an exam extension. And a lot changed during that week.