You can get into a comfort zone writing lyrics, like wearing a mask. But I wanted to feel uncomfortable when I was listening back to the lyrics; I wanted to squirm.

I like the fervor of religious music, the zealous aspect - that preachers can go from a conversational cadence into this passionate singing.

Music was my friend when I was a teenager, and I would inhabit and take comfort in lyrics. That's how I want to write.

I'm appalled by the tendency of some rock records to perfect everything to the point where it sounds like Botox and polish it so heavily that there's no humanity left in it.

I never want to listen to the songs in front of people close to me. There's an emotional honesty in that place where it's not earnest but it's vulnerable.

When you're making an album with people who made your favorite records as a rebellious teenager, it feels like you've achieved something.

I was definitely inspired by gospel music, or old-school R&B; I got into some Good God gospel compilations.