The Tisburys | photo by Bob Sweeney
How Lucy the Elephant and family photographs inspired The Tisburys’ latest album
Take a deeper dive into the latest album by our June Artist To Watch, plus, watch a new music video from the Philly faves.
Reflecting on his band’s newly-released A Still Life Revisited, Tyler Asay of The Tisburys says “I’m really proud of the new album because I feel like we’ve finally settled into our own Tisburys sound. Which I’m still trying to define. But now I know it when I hear it.”
We’d define it as a mix of heartland rock with underground garage — Petty and The Replacements are certainly kindred spirits — or earnest storytelling songwriting packaged in catchy melodies. However you slice it, its a craft they’ve honed over the past decade. Asay, along with keyboardist Jason McGovern, spoke on the WXPN Local Show about The Tisburys’ journey from a rotating cast with irreverent stage names, to focused players with a solid lineup, three full-length albums and a smattering of EPs, and a newly-minted status as WXPN’s Artist to Watch.
A Still Life Revisited, recorded at Headroom Studios and Dr. Dog’s Mt. Slippery, is their biggest and boldest work to date. It finds them stepping up their game with roof-raising arrangements — you can hear that in the album-closer “Here Comes The Lonesome Dove,” which you can watch a new music video for down below — and with contemplative themes of family history, grief, and trauma. Asay likens the record to a family photo album, with the centerpiece image being an old painting of Margate, New Jersey’s famed Lucy The Elephant on the cover art.
“The painting on the cover was done by my great aunt, and it was in my parents’ basement forever on the wall,” Asay says. “And I always thought it was a striking image, it’s kind of surreal looking.” As Asay found himself writing character-driven songs about the passing of time, generational issues, and learning from your mistakes, Lucy became a symbol.
He thinks of telling expressions like “the elephant in the room” or “an elephant never forgets,” and began to shape his songs in a way where many of the characters he sang about came in contact with Lucy.
Also, he says, “I just liked her as a symbol of east coast grittiness. When I was building the mood board of the album, her picture was right there.”
Hear more by listening to our full conversation in the player above, and watch the new music video for “Here Comes The Lonesome Dove” below. The Tisburys’ album release party for A Still Life Revisited takes place this Saturday, June 7th, at MilkBoy with support from The Lunar Year and Moustapha Noumbissi. Tickets and more information on the show can be found at the WXPN Concert Calendar.