There are few modern-day songwriters who have captured the past like Tim Presley. While the Californian spent his formative years straddled the orbits of punk (Model American and The Nerve Agents), psych-rock (the fiercely underrated Darker My Love) to even a stint working with The Fall, it was the groundwork for what would become Presley’s sweet spot as White Fence. His love for British songcraft, woven through his own colorful tapestry.
Presley’s journey is well-documented, brought into a wider sphere on the back of his collaboration alongside Ty Segall with 2012’s Hair (Joy would follow six years later). It would etch Presley into the Drag City folklore; the label, home to some of the most crucial collaborations over the past two decades. The merging of minds which have also included the alliance between Donovan Quinn and Ben Chasny as New Bums and the acoustic wanderings between Bill MacKay and Ryley Walker. (The former, about to release another, this time alongside with Bitchin Bajas’ Cooper Crain.)
As White Fence, Presley has always been an exclusive dealer in prime grade songcraft. Your Eyes and his interpretation of Simply Red’s So Beautiful from his latest release, Orange, equal parts sweet and sardonic, posing the ultimate question: do you laugh or cry?
Orange is at the top of the pile in the tale of White Fence. With Segall on hand, both from behind the soundboards and the drum-kit, Orange is Presley’s first under the guise since 2019’s I Have to Feed Larry’s Hawk.
In many ways, Presley has been a forgotten man, lurking in the shadows during a decade that has been the strangest of our generation. He’s back though, and Orange is a defining statement. Sun-drenched pop through the same lens as fellow DC labelmate, Cory Hanson. However, as always, Presley adds his own flavours to the broth.
Beginning with That’s Where The Money Goes (Seen from the Celestial Realm). Supremely Anglophilic where gods, red herrings and medicating one’s thoughts are themes that seep from the speakers, calling to mind the ghost or Nick Drake and the brothers Davies.
Then there’s the jangle psych of I Came Close, Orange For Luck and Like When Animals Come Back. Insulation to combat the heavy whether where Presley’s laments of lost love cut deep. Given Up My Heart, the song you think you’ve heard before, but it was never as good as this. It dovetails with the beautiful Unread Books, where Presley is at it again (“No one changes their heart / No one changes their mind / Like you do”). It’s Orange’s apex moment, rivalling the emotional depths that Emil Amos has reached.
It’s not the only moment on Orange where a straight line can be drawn from one song to the next. Evaporating Love seamlessly rolls into Reflection in a Shop Window On Polk, as Presley parts with more pop gold dust (“It never rains/ But it pours all night”). It’s these mediations of the past that create a path to move forward, and as Presley’s Rickenbacker licks up to the corners of the mind, Orange is the kind of album that has you smiling so hard, it almost brings a tear to the eye.
In the lead-up to the release of Orange, last week Presley answered some questions about his songwriting, his journey as White Fence and more.
White Fence (photo: Agathe Rousselle)Sun 13: Do you remember the first piece of music you heard that made you want to write songs?
Tim Presley: “I think it was the guitar solo in Gerry Raferty’s Baker Street. It came on in the car sometime in the late ’80s and I remember my mom asking if I could play guitar like that (….I had literally just started playing), but I remember thinking about how much that song moved her at that moment and I think it instilled how powerful music can be to a listener. I think it was when Nirvana Nevermind came out in 1991 when I started to want to play music in earnest. Then soon after… it was Black Flag and Ramones that allowed me to follow through with it.”
S13: It’s been six years since W-X’s I Can Hear Myself Now. In a modern world where so many people are pressed up against the observational glass, has it felt refreshing being out of the spotlight?
TP: “Absolutely. Especially since I didn’t feel the urge to be under any spotlight. I had some serious personal growth and reflection to do, and I didn’t have the will or want to force myself out there.”
S13: How long had you been working on Orange for?
TP: “Technically… maybe four years. Well… the writing of the songs anyway. But it only took about a week to record. I had dedicated all my time to painting, and only had brief spells of inspiration musically, so this record is a compilation of those moments between 2021-2025.”
S13: I think it’s up there with the best work you’ve done. There’s a real immediacy to these songs where they just pop. What was the most important aspect you wanted to capture with the album?
TP: “Ah, thank you. I wanted to be concise and simple. But I felt very vulnerable about this… I didn’t want to rely on too many effects and tape manipulations. I really wanted a cleaner, simplified, to the point record. Which scared me to the point where I was almost hesitant to release it. So… I appreciate you saying that.”
S13: Unread Books feels like the centrepiece to this album. Was it one of the earlier songs written?
TP: “It was written sometime in the middle of that time. I agree it’s the centerpiece. I remember being proud of writing that song. It was very honest.”
S13: With a song like I Wanted A Rolex, how important is it to have a sense of humour in songwriting?
TP: “I think it can be important. I’ve always loved how The Kinks can switch from emotional and sincere to witty. Sometimes I get so deep in my feelings and serious that I need to take the piss out of myself. Add some levity. Truth is… I’m actually not trying to be funny though, more absurd and arcane.”
S13: Your collaboration with Ty Segall continues. Is he someone you’re constantly hanging with outside of music?
TP: “Yeah, we’re good friends, I’d say. I think he must’ve sensed I was ready to record an album, because when he asked if I wanted to record anything, cosmically… I had finally thought I was ready to record these songs and seriously think about an album after all those years.”
White Fence - OrangeS13: Has your approach and methods to writing songs changed over the years, or have you always maintained the same formula?
TP: “For this album, or… this group of songs, I didn’t rely on any particular musical references. I wanted to be as stark as a ’50s song. If anything, I wanted to try something formulaic like a Motown, or Buddy Holly song… and maybe obviously early Beatles. I wanted the constraints of an old pop-rock song verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus type of thing. Whereas in the past I leaned more into stream on conscious style of writing.”
S13: Are there any necessities you need close by in order to write?
TP: “Yes, but I dare not say. However, I do need to be in complete solitude. I need days, hours, weeks of this to work it out. But also, I rarely make a plan to do it. I don’t prepare. A song can come as easy as picking up a guitar and then I’m set off. then, take the day or however long to try and finish it. To answer your question… a guitar or keyboard.”
S13: Have you ever thought about your life and what it may have looked like if you weren’t a musician?
TP: “Not really… I had my heart set on it from an early age. Honestly… kind [of] like what I mentioned before… hearing certain music at a certain age galvanised me in a profound way.”
S13: Do you ever look back at your work and feel more fondly about certain records than others, or are you someone who’s always look forward to the next thing?
TP: “I think the first six White Fence records actually. I think back at how dedicated and focused I was in those five or six years. I was literally trying to write music every day. Nothing else mattered. I would be perturbed and pissy if I couldn’t be at home working on music and recording. But If I had to choose one, for sentimentality it’d be Is Growing Faith. I felt like I established something in myself. I went full on after that. It’s like it gave me permission to truly express myself. It’s very important to unlock that in yourself. Maybe that’s just ‘confidence’….but it felt more spiritual than just that.”
Orange is out now via Drag City. Purchase from Bandcamp.
