If you want to write a love song, you need to not try to write it for a particular person in a particular situation. It needs to be vague, otherwise ….

Yeah, except that when I write pop songs I have pretty strict constraints that I impose on myself. 69 Love Songs is a constraint. That the titles hav….

I don't think there are any clichés I try to avoid. As soon as I spot a cliché, I go for it. I feel like clichés are the most useful thing in songwri….

That seems like one of the differences in expectations of "serious" and "popular" music that you can actually depend on the liner notes to explain yo….

I don't remember things initially when listening to music. Like, I don't remember where I first heard a song, I don't have nostalgic attachment to a ….

Popular music of the last 50 years has failed to keep in step with advances in musical theater, namely Stephen Sondheim. But the two have grown apart….

There are so many clichés in the world, especially in music, that it's a never-ending creative font to just bring two of them together and let them i….

Well, hardcore is so much about the body, in that you have to play as fast as possible. I'm not sure it can be ironized. You can't play faster, thoug….

I can imagine lyrics becoming better written by smart machines rather than stupid musicians. Songwriters generally have nothing to say. They may as w….

I think there is such a valid concept as "serious music," meaning that if you don't take it seriously, you don't get it all..

My mother says I have boring percussion..

Serious music isn't listened to in a casual setting. You don't want to listen to that in headphones on the subway..

I'm not too sure if I have a very smart approach to revealing my life. Luckily, I doubt if many people really care about my life that much..

When you're making a singular pop song, you don't really need any subject matter. You just sort of say, "Uh, I love you." And then you try to figure ….

You know, most love songs are not cheesy and corny. Most love songs are complaints, I think. Or about unrequited love, coming at it from some oblique….

I write songs by sitting around in bars, so drinking songs are a little obvious. It's surprising that I don't write entirely drinking songs, since I ….

There's a whole kind of melancholy that you can only attain with reverb. That's an example of a technology introducing a whole new meaning..

If you start out with a song sounding like Britney Spears, and you end up with a song sounding like Pauline Oliveros, you'd better have pretty good l….

Never try to do anything artistic when you're feeling something overwhelming. It's like driving a car: If you're experiencing road rage, pull over..

The adventure is when people don't know what they're doing at all. Like, I think that the first pop band to use synthesizers as their main instrument….

There are only so many instruments you can layer on top of each other that aren't perfectly electronically programmed. "Long Vermont Roads" just cann….