I think a lot of things that people think are complimentary are a little bit condescending, but then we just have to keep doing what we're doing, and being in the band is the important bit.

No matter how many people try, no matter how many fancy songwriters in Los Angeles try to break it down to a formula... to an extent, there isn't a science to writing great songs, I suppose.

My dissertation was on the idea of feminine-themed women's magazines, so like how the ideal woman is put across by women's magazines.

I think a lot of people spend a lot of time talking about what they hate rather than what they love. I don't want to get trapped in that.

A good song to one person could just be something mediocre to somebody else. It's always strange thinking about how songs connect with people.

'Princess' is a good word, as is 'girlish', 'pixie-like' and all these other things. I personally find it a bit boring, it's all been done before. The amount of times you read reviews of bands and it's an all-girl four-piece, and they talk about what the women are wearing... you'll never read a review that's like: "Male singer Thom Yorke, who was dressed in a white t-shirt and jeans..." You would never read that about a man.

The idea was that the record itself ['The Bones Of What You Believe' ] is a kind of labour of love for us - all our energy and all our passion and all the stuff we believed in is in that record, so you're kind of handing that off to other people, if that makes sense.