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

An old bandit adage: A bell is a cup until it is struck.

I'd rather have a strong career, playing and selling records to a loyal audience, then having one record that exploded. That would be devastating.

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

Music has been already devalued by the consumer. There's an expectation that it should be free so the race to the bottom has already been won.

If Broadway musicals were as popular as they were in the 20s, 30s, and 40s, then people like Sufjan Stevens and Iron & Wine would be writing for Broadway, which would be amazing. As it stands, it's the worst stuff that's mired in pop music.

Prog-rock and concept records and some ambitious projects were kind of anathema post-punk. They were destroyed with the advent of punk rock. You don't necessarily need to have a degree in music composition to play in a rock band anymore, which is a great thing.