When I'm onstage, I'm completely comfortable, and I feel very vital and alive.

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.

The way I work, I'm not a confessional singer-songwriter.

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

The anti-aging advert that I would like to see is a baby covered in cream saying, 'Aah, I've used too much'

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.

The first splurge of creativity is kind of free, and the last 30 percent is painstakingly hard work, but it's good to light a fire and make it public and create that expectation. It's become part of the writing process, really, a way to ask the audience what they think, how they think it's going. I can't write songs in a vacuum.