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Talkhouse Podcast

Talkhouse Podcast

Written by: Talkhouse
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 Your favorite musicians, filmmakers, and other creative minds one-on-one. No moderator, no script, no typical questions. The Talkhouse Podcast offers unique insights into creative work from all genres and generations. Explore more illuminating shows on the Talkhouse Podcast Network.2025 Talkhouse Art Entertainment & Performing Arts Music
Episodes
  • Lido Pimienta with Ora Cogan

    Lido Pimienta with Ora Cogan
    May 14 2026
    On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast we’ve got a pair of songwriters who currently call Canada home, but whose music and backgrounds come from intriguingly different places: Lido Pimienta and Ora Cogan. Lido Pimienta is an incredibly thoughtful, thoroughly outspoken musician/artist who was born in Colombia and whose music takes inspiration from there and a dozen other places. She released her first record in 2010, but it was 2016’s experimental-leaning La Papessa that won her both the prestigious Polaris Music Prize and a bigger batch of listeners inspired by her activism and genre-jumping. The laziest comparison might be Björk, so take that for what it’s worth. Pimienta’s latest album is last year’s stirring, strange, and gorgeous La Belleza. Check out the minimal song “Mango” right here. The music made by the other person in today’s conversation, Ora Cogan, comes from a different sonic place but I think a similar emotional one. Cogan’s new album Hard Hearted Woman takes old-school West Coast singer-songwriter vibes and adds a bit of modern indie-psych edge. I hear influences like Joni Mitchell and Sharon van Etten bubbling under, but there’s something a little darker happening in Cogan’s songs that’s hard to put a finger on but a pleasure to hear. She’s finishing up a West Coast US tour at the moment that will end back home in British Columbia, so check her out if you can, and in the meantime, check out the song “The Smoke” from Hard Hearted Woman right here. In this lively conversation, Pimienta and Cogan talk about coffee, Canada, and Pimienta’s recent career reset. They also talk about the increasing difficulties of making art in the modern economy, something we’ve heard from other guests recently as well. But they don’t let it get them down—enjoy this chat and their positive energy. 0:00 — Intro 2:46 — Start of conversation 3:29 — On coffee, productivity, fast food, and sugar 6:40 — On “road snacks” and favorite foods while touring abroad 8:00 — On fiddling and Irish and Scottish folk music 10:04 — On safety while crossing borders and making tour travel plans 10:53 — On the importance of music, creativity, and connection today 14:18 — On the contrast between spirituality and the music business 17:23 — On fame and realistic expectations for musicians 21:36 — On Lida’s music and how her culture influenced her style 26:13 — On finding connection through art, beauty, and sharing culture 28:20 — On authenticity and gatekeeping in art 29:43 — On the connections between wealth, commercialization, and the importance of real art and experience 31:46 — On raising children in a consumerist world, and introducing them to art and culture Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast, and thanks to Lido Pimienta and Ora Cogan for chatting. If you liked what you heard, please follow Talkhouse on your favorite podcasting platform, and check out all the great chats and writing and Talkhouse.com. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan, and the Talkhouse theme is composed and performed by the Range. See you next time! Find more illuminating podcasts on the ⁠⁠⁠Talkhouse Podcast Network⁠⁠⁠. Visit ⁠⁠⁠talkhouse.com⁠⁠⁠ to read essays, reviews, and more. Follow @talkhouse on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Twitter (X)⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠.
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    37 mins
  • Mei Semones with John Roseboro

    Mei Semones with John Roseboro
    May 7 2026
    This week’s Talkhouse Podcast features a conversation between two ridiculously talented young songwriter/guitarists in the early days of what will surely be interesting careers: Mei Semones and John Roseboro. Semones famously found her passion for guitar by watching the “Johnny B. Goode” scene in Back to the Future, which led her to music school and the kind of genre-spanning passion that feels refreshingly unfiltered. Sometimes she’ll play delicate, jazz-inflected acoustic songs while singing in Japanese; the next minute it’s more familiar indie-pop that adds a bit of bossa nova or some shredding. The fact that it doesn’t make sense is what makes it make sense, if you get what I mean. Semones was a big hit at this year’s experimental-leaning Big Ears Festival, and she’s also got a big social media following—that’s an odd crossover, or at least I think it is. Next week she’ll open a string of shows for American Football on the west coast before heading down to charm Australia. Her first full-length was last year’s Animaru, and she followed it recently with an EP called Kurage, which includes a song made with today’s other guest, John Roseboro. Roseboro has called his music “post-Bossa Nova” or sometimes just “post-Bossa,” but that only tells part of the story. He’s a thoughtful, observant lyricist who’s great at building a vibe and then taking it to unexpected places. Like Semones, he lives in Brooklyn, though he ended up there via a strange route that took him to mortuary school and some time among the Amish. His latest full-length is 2024’s Fools, but since then he’s released a charming cover of the classic “Close To You” that removes a lot of the cheese associated with various other versions over the years. He also collaborated with Semones on a track from her EP that recounts a story of his lost tooth and a meeting on a subway platform. Check out that song, “Tooth Fairy,” right here. In this charming, relentlessly laid-back conversation, Semones and Roseboro—who are good friends, as you’ll be able to tell—hit each other with questions that lead everywhere from what food they like on the road to the magic of music. Succumb to their rhythm and enjoy the conversation. 0:00 — Intro 2:28 — Start of conversation 2:50 — If you could be an animal, what would you be? 4:19 — On traveling and finding a home base 5:50 — What do you think about while performing? 8:15 — On noticing the audience at shows, and hecklers 10:10 — On favorite types of food, and go-to deli orders 12:46 — On what makes a good song & lyrics 16:29 — On underrated songs they’ve made 18:40 — On dreams and dream imagery 20:38 — On Nerd Clusters, snacks, and drinks on rider requests 22:03 — On favorite sports 22:40 — Have you ever been in a fight? 24:49 — On favorite seasons and months 25:13 — On the differences between touring and recording 27:56 — On sleeping 28:55 — On subtlety Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast, and thanks to Mei Semones and John Roseboro for chatting. If you like what you heard, please follow Talkhouse on your favorite podcasting platform and check out all the great stuff at Talkhouse.com. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan and the Talkhouse theme was composed and performed by the Range. See you next time! Find more illuminating podcasts on the ⁠⁠⁠Talkhouse Podcast Network⁠⁠⁠. Visit ⁠⁠⁠talkhouse.com⁠⁠⁠ to read essays, reviews, and more. Follow @talkhouse on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Twitter (X)⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠.
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    34 mins
  • Bill Callahan with Michael Imperioli

    Bill Callahan with Michael Imperioli
    Apr 30 2026
    On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast, we’ve got an interesting pairing—two guys that hadn’t met before, and who come from different parts of the arts world, and who are both pretty damn great at their jobs. It’s Bill Callahan and Michael Imperioli. Bill Callahan made music under the name Smog for about 15 years, releasing an incredible catalog of gorgeous, mostly minimal, often wandering songs delivered in his unmistakable baritone. He’s one of the most profound lyricists of the past 30 years, crafting careful little worlds that are often funny and heartbreaking at the same time. In 2005, he dropped the Smog moniker and started releasing records under his own name, but there’s no obvious break in the continuity. It’s a fantastic body of work and you can start almost anywhere: I’d recommend 1999’s Knock Knock as an entry point, or maybe 2007’s A River Ain’t Too Much Too Love, which comes up in this chat. But you could just as easily jump in with Callahan’s fantastic new one, My Days of 58, which was finished after a scary cancer battle. In spite of that—or maybe because of it—it’s one of Callahan’s most relaxed and charming ever. Check out “Why Do Men Sing” right here. Today’s other guest is instantly recognizable to fans of The Sopranos as Christopher Moltisanti, the tragic character that surely wouldn’t have been nearly as indelible without Michael Imperioli’s genius-level portrayal. You’ve seen him in a million other things, too, from Goodfellas to Summer of Sam—which he also co-wrote—to The White Lotus. What perhaps you didn’t know about Imperioli is that he’s also a musician. He’s the singer/guitarist in a band called ZOPA, which plays catchy, straight-ahead rock that sounds deeply rooted in New York City, which Imperioli still calls home. He also wrote a novel, which comes up in this chat with Callahan, and he’s a practicing Buddhist, another topic of conversation. Even though Callahan and Imperioli didn’t know each other, they were clearly fans of each other’s work. In this chill chat, Michael tells Bill about the exact moment he first heard one of his songs. They also get into Bill’s health scare and how it inspired his new record, Michael’s kids and what they’re up to, and there’s a lot of talk about Lou Reed—a guy that inspired them both. Enjoy. 0:00 — Intro 2:35 — Living in Austin & New York 3:34 — On Bill’s new record and discovering Smog’s past work 5:03 — On birthdays and the Chinese Zodiac 6:34 — On cancer and writing the new album, My Days of 58 8:33 — On Michael’s novel, fiction, and inspiration 10:47 — On practicing Buddhism, reincarnation, and monks 16:03 — On raising kids and their musical talents 19:07 — On AI and why human emotion matters in art and work 25:10 — On playing instruments and recording musicians 29:08 — On knowing Lou Reed, and his inspirations 34:35 — On Bill’s upcoming tour, and favorite guitars Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast and thanks to Bill Callahan and Michael Imperioli for chatting. If you liked what you heard, please follow Talkhouse on your favorite podcasting platform and check out all the great stuff we’ve got going at Talkhouse.com. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan, and the Talkhouse theme is composed and performed by the Range. See you next time! Find more illuminating podcasts on the ⁠⁠⁠Talkhouse Podcast Network⁠⁠⁠. Visit ⁠⁠⁠talkhouse.com⁠⁠⁠ to read essays, reviews, and more. Follow @talkhouse on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Twitter (X)⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠.
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    42 mins
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