I wanted to make a very cohesive-sounding album. Anyone who has listened to me and brought me into their living rooms and their bedrooms - I am making this for them.

We do have to remain true to the idea of honesty within what you want to do.

I had never really written songs for anyone before. With [Broken] Social Scene, you're writing songs for others and your passing them around and exchanging things, but for a man who has the history that Andy Kim had, and has lived the life that he's had, you see such a youthful aspect of how he just wanted to create something again.

Obviously, everyone loves someone who appreciates you and puts you on a pedestal.

People don't get that being a musician is a job, they don't get what the work takes. And that's just because you're living a dream, so everyone who's observing it from the outside can't really empathize with how much work it is because you're fortunate. And it's a kind of competition with yourself to stay away from all of the excess, whether it's booze or drugs or just the late nights with the addiction to watching the sun rise in some weird part of the world. But when you meet the other musicians, there's generally a spiritual exhaustion that you connect with.

You should never leave something with a feeling of defeat.

I am 36 years old, I can't change. I have tried, trust me, but I can't. It's nice to get over yourself and just do it.