Slim Twig, If You Hadn’t Heard

by Alexandra Molotkow

Slim Twig is a maybe-probably genius from Toronto. I don’t really know him, but he went to my high school for a year, and though he was very young he had his hair all Wayne Kramered and wore incredible vintage Chelsea boots. Most of the rest of us just dressed to exhibit what we liked, but even then he “had it” the way some people just do. He was already performing as Slim Twig, and he already knew what he was doing: his references were clear, and they were good ones, but he didn’t sound quite like any of them. I mention this, and I hope it’s OK, because it’s nice to be able to mythologize people from around.

Earlier this month, Slim Twig released his fifth album, on DFA, which you can buy and sample here. I like that the title is a pun, and I really like this quote from an interview with Montreal Rampage:

I think that the artifact and the artist are two completely different things, separate at birth. But the artist is a conduit for the artifact and it’s their imagination that grafts the thing together. I’m admiring of a lot of artists who would be considered assholes or even criminals like Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, and Phil Spector. These are people who’ve made amazing artifacts that shouldn’t be denied or censored just because the creator is an asshole. A creation isn’t a human being. A creation is like a guiltless animal, so to speak, unless the message is hateful which is a different circumstance, but I have no problem enjoying great works by jerks.

Recently he put together a sweet playlist for The Beat. To all appearances, his look is still on point.