It's a very different feeling just sitting around the side, playing piano, and dancing around as opposed to standing in front and singing.

It may be a product of me being raised in episcopal church, but I have a love for ritual and theater and the significance of doing the exact same thing over and over. So I really love knowing every little thing I'm going to do during a show.

I felt like the last record was a real step forward for us. I was very pleased to see some people saying the same things - that it was a real departure, that it was much more individual, that it sort of a power of its own. I really did feel those things very strongly, it's our most realized record.

I do like the old versions of our songs - there are good things in them, but I think that the good things that happen in the new ones kind of outweigh that. The murkiness of the first version of the record was not really what we'd intended. It has sort of a dream-like quality, but I feel like that has been preserved in other ways in the newer versions, as well as the bonus disc.

Being like stranded without a label in the middle of tour was very strange. On the other hand it made us move instantly. I mean, I didn't wallow. I was like, "Alright, who can we email? Let's just start putting stuff out." I felt like we were playing really well and it was at least worth a shot.

I certainly think there are things that impressed me as a child about the church. The smells and the sounds and the pagaentry of it remained with me. The aesthetic I really love. I think a lot of my sense of melody comes from singing those hymns and doing the renaissance music and stuff.

I feel like we've kind of gone through a transformation in the past year. I don't know what happened but we've somehow gelled in a way that we never have before. The live show has become much more powerful and interesting to me. I really feel like we're learning to negotiate the dynamics of it and keep it interesting. It feels like we're becoming much more comfortable and in tune with one another.