The music of Tindersticks has evolved so much since their self-titled 1993 debut that it shouldn’t be a surprise how downright funny singer Stuart Staples is. His lyrics are often bleakly comic, his band’s music has long carried a soulful empathy. But witnessing Staples laugh – and frequently – is an unexpected delight. In a pub in Shoreditch near Tindersticks’ management offices, Staples is happily bemused at how he’s finally managed to write the first love song of his career.
Pinky In The Daylight is a disarmingly simple ballad, which nestles perfectly on the band’s 11th album No Treasure But Hope. It’s even got a key change a boyband could do serious damage with. “I know,” laughs Staples, his dark eyes alight with mischief. “Lucy, who leads our string section, said: ‘That’s a Westlife song!’ when that key change developed during rehearsals. It’s my first ever pure love song and it’s not how I usually write, but it just happened.” The song was written in just 10 minutes while Staples and his artist wife Suzanne were on a ferry one sunny after noon.
“There’s something very liberating about writing a song like Pinky In The Daylight,” he smiles, recovering from a laughing fit at the idea of Tindersticks performing the song on stools and rising up in sync during that key change. “I always try to stay true to the idea of a song, not make it into something I feel should be my sensibility. After writing songs for 30-odd years, I’ve learned I have to trust those moments.”