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Baker's Dozen

Shields Against The World: Mat Osman's Baker's Dozen
Luke Turner , May 10th, 2023 08:40

From growing up on The Carpenters to reconnecting with music in his "wilderness years" Suede bassist turned novelist Mat Osman takes Luke Turner through his Baker's Dozen of favourite recordings

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The Hold Steady – ‘Stuck Between Stations’

They're the indie Springsteen, the indie E Street Band. I like what Craig Finn has done and I don't think people give him credit. In six or seven albums, he tells these short stories about a group of people in the Twin Cities, people in bands, doing drugs and having bad sex and falling out and writing. It's like the Marvel Universe for indie rock. I find it so immersive – I feel like I know the Twin Cities, the scene there, the clubs they go to, the people. I think he's a brilliant songwriter and lyricist who never reverts to rock speak, he actually talks about people and what they do. I think it's incredible. And I know all these things about these people just through his songs. There's a song about a boy and a girl meeting in the medical station of a festival, one has overdosed, the other has sunstroke, and they end up making out backstage. It’s just brilliantly done, a perfect short story in a musical form. I love him. I love the world he creates.