It's like you don't know you're making a record unless you're half-killing yourself..

A day off after a show with no agenda in a foreign city is about the most fertile creative situation I can imagine. Just walking with nothing to do, ….

I'm coming from a place that's more experimental and indulgent already, so for the last 10 years, it's been more like, "How can I defend my own sensi….

Honestly, I didn't have the patience for biology or history in an academic sense, but I always liked the kind of big questions..

I think jazz was just seeking respect and validity because a lot of people didn't believe it was a viable art form, and then they got a lot of attent….

Songwriters can sort of get away with murder. You can throw out crazy theories and not have to back it up with data or graphs or research..

Some of your best songs come from a desperate attempt to escape, so sitting in an airport for hours I can just start pulling out little fragments of ….

I've never approached classical music in a formal way, ever. I couldn't read very well. I'd have to play every piece and internalize it, almost as if….

I've always had levity in my songs, so I like to turn things over, twist them around, and make fun of myself..

In New York, I'm playing in a church, solo, doing instrumental stuff. There's talk of doing more, like, installation-type things with some of the spe….

I have the barn, it's just kind of like a studio. Almost all artists have la studio to work in, and that's really what it is. A place to get away. I'….

I think when I was pretty young I got really into the tone of my instrument and I remember just playing one note for an hour to just kind of feel the….

Sometimes I just think we're not meant to fly halfway around the world in a day. That some kind of mutation is going to happen..

I don't like to disappear between records. I like to play shows while I'm making the record..

This might be a controversial thing to suggest, but in a quest to understand and relate to terrorism or school shootings, sometimes it feels like it'….

I don't get particularly precious about things like this, though. Like the record company said, "We need a radio edit that delivers the hook" - I don….

I still kind of believe this absurd line that if you have to write it down, it's not worth remembering..

I guess I'm attracted to more archaic words because they can be imbued with more meaning, because their definition is elusive..

There's always a tension between wanting to write a really concise, instant gratification type song that gets under your skin the first time you hear….

Well, my main instrument is violin, but I think of myself as a songwriter who happens to play violin..

The earth almost looks like it's packed down and dense from so many feet treading over it..