Guitars are kind of just, you know, sexy, especially old vintage ones.

Most of the songs that I appreciate are lyrically vague.

Every time I get up in the morning, melodies occur to me and I start trying to shape lyrics to melodies.

Some of your best songs come from a desperate attempt to escape, so sitting in an airport for hours I can just start pulling out little fragments of songs from my head. A lot of times a melody will just occur to me and be my companion for a couple of months.

All the folks I play with come from jazz backgrounds or at least appreciate spontaneity within the parameters of a pop song.

I create little challenges for myself, like, 'Okay, whatever you do in this song, you've got to somehow work in Greek Cypriots,' or something like that.

There's songs that could either be taken as a conversation between two people, like "The Privateers," or "Why," from a much earlier record. Or "Glass Figurine." That's my version of a relationship song.