Music is a self-propelling thing. You can not rely on anybody but yourself.

I'm an introspective human being and someone who likes to be alone in a room. The idea of going out and talking to people...there's something appealing about it, but also there's something that feels alien to me, as a cynical Irish man.

I don't function well in certain aspects of society, and you can read into that what you will.

My favorite records are not easy - they're not records that reveal everything to you the first time out.

I've traveled quite a lot and become a coffee nut.

With music, it feels natural that, in my head, I can pull things apart and then put them back together very quickly.

I made a note in my head to be aware of things as they were happening, because they might not happen again. Up to that point, I was not really that appreciative of what was going on, or thinking about documenting life in a plainspoken manner. I was talking about my life and writing songs, but then I would go back and listen and they were about dreams, and legends, and metaphors and that was just not my life!