I think it's important to just be in your subconscious mind - at least when you're starting an idea.

Normally the meaning of the songs, if there is any, occurs to me after I've written the song.

I'm a huge Hayao Miyazaki fan. He might be my favorite director of all time - the beauty that he sees in the world and the attention to detail. I try and focus on that while making music: trying to use as many real instruments as possible, have it feel as tactile and tangible as possible.

A lot of my ideas come from McNally Jackson bookstore. One of my favorite things to do is just go there and look through architecture books and interior design books. Something about the aesthetics of space and beautiful images works with my brain.

I think I was just too young to even understand what was going on. When I was still living in South Africa, there was still so much racial tension.

When I'm writing, those ideas are seldom inspired by music itself. I won't often listen to an artist and come up with an idea.

As a visual arts teacher, I have to keep my mind open. I have explores styles from pointillism to cubism.