The melodies come out so strong that I'm like, "Oh, crap." It's really better if they could both be kind of able to compromise, but the melodies, even more recently, they come out very fully cast and formed.

I've always found that whatever you say about indie rock, it is the most inclusive genre or title for anything. It doesn't pin you down too much, like other labels would. It's just newer, it has less baggage.

Songwriters can sort of get away with murder. You can throw out crazy theories and not have to back it up with data or graphs or research.

Melodies are just honest. They can only be what they are. Words have the capacity for deception. Theyre all full of subtext, and some of them are cliche and overused and vernacular. Theyre tricky. All I can say is, words are tricky.

People who are thinking about your music almost as much as you are, that almost never happens.

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

Some of my earlier songs are kind of more about mental illness.