The point about melody and beat and lyric is that they exist to engage you in a very particular way. They want to occupy your attention.

Sometimes you recognize that there is a category of human experience that has not been identified but everyone knows about it. That is when I find a term to describe it.

Every collaboration helps you grow. With Bowie, it's different every time. I know how to create settings, unusual aural environments. That inspires him. He's very quick.

The seven white notes on the piano - each section of the piece (there are 12 sections) is five of those seven white notes. If you calculate it, there are 21 groups of five notes in any group of seven notes. And although there are 12 sections, this piece actually uses nine of those groups because some of the sections repeat earlier ones. So that's the formula. It's very simple as a way of generating something. It's my inner minimalist.

When I went back to England after a year away, the country seemed stuck, dozing in a fairy tale, stifled by the weight of tradition.

In the wake of the events of 11 September 2001, it now seems clear that the shock of the attacks was exploited in America.

If there is a new fascism, it won't come from skinheads and punks; it will come from people who eat granola and think they know how the world should be.