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

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'm definitely preoccupied by thinking I'm just a biological thing. I want to feel that there's more, but so often I'm reminded of how we're just like baboons, basically.

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 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.

I'm just worn down and weary of bands whose lyrics are cryptic and self-referential.