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

There's a lot of interesting words, nomenclatures, in science.

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.

I don't write poetry and then strum some chords and then fit the words on top of the chords.

What you see at the Field Museum is only like, 10 percent of the collection. It's birds of paradise and passenger pigeons and in all these drawers that pull out, these specimens come out and it's spectacular. And it worked out.

I didn't have the patience for the research, or anything like that. I just like how it sets the imagination off. It's just an area that's very fertile for great words. Great metaphors, potentially.

There is something comforting about going into a practice room, putting your sheet music on a stand and playing Bach over and over again.