I wish I had a better range, but I really have a super-limited one. Barely a tenor, dips into baritone - that's about it.

It was a nice relief to be able to work on individual songs.

As she walked, she breathed a quick benediction to the patron saint of sleuthing. "Nancy Drew," she whispered, "be with me now.

When I first started writing these kind of songs that would eventually become Decemberists songs, I was writing them because I knew that nobody was listening at the time and that it wouldn't hurt to challenge myself and get weirder and see if I could alienate more people

Early on I was a lot more unsure of myself on stage. When our band The Decemberists was getting bigger audiences I was more concerned about alienating them, so I wasn't as willing to take risks and do weird stuff on stage. But once you get more accustomed to it you tend to have more fun with it and not worry about being pilloried for acting out. Whenever you play in front of 400 or 500 more people than you're used to it's always a weird, transitional period.

I wish I had a better range, but I really have a super-limited one. Barely a tenor, dips into baritone - that's about it.

I think the music should definitely underscore the sentiment of the song, and it can work for or against it.