Well, my main instrument is violin, but I think of myself as a songwriter who happens to play violin.

If something gets under my own skin, and keeps reoccurring, it starts to take on a certain weight and value, and I think, "I have to put this in the song. I have no choice but to mention Greek Cypriots in this song." It's a little internal challenge to myself. Like creating little imaginary rituals in yourself to help the song go from nonexisting to existing.

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

It's not set in stone. I like to keep it rolling and changing, and so I am like, "Great, I get to remake my song."

I really like the sound of analog things where clearly there's something being touched. You can sense that something is handmade. So much with digital, there's a disconnect.

You can build up expectations for a song before you record it, and then it's like nothing's good enough in the studio.

I've done my share of busking, and it's fun until it isn't. There are musicians in the subways that will make you cry, they're so good.