I'm finding that writing poetry is strengthening my songwriting, because you're learning to make a piece of writing work on a page with nothing else. I was also finding within poetry I felt a lot more free to write about very different matters, to write about social issues or things that are going on around me.

Before I record for real, I know pretty much exactly how I want them to feel.

I think I've been interested in music since I was little.

When I was young, I had idols that I thought were wonderful. I wanted to be just like them.

There's so much you can do with laying words on a bed of music. You can completely change their meaning with the type of music or the way they're sung.

I firmly disbelieve that one has to be a tortured soul to write good music.

In the past members of my family on both my mother's and father's side have fought in the war, in the first and second World Wars. Unfortunately, they're dead and I wasn't able to speak to them, but that was in our family history too.