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…

- Yannis Philippakis

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 lik…

- Yannis Philippakis

I like simple writing. I'd rather read Hemingway than Burroughs.

- Yannis Philippakis

By the time you finish touring the record, everything that's exciting to me is what's ahead of me. I want to write the next paragraph.

- Yannis Philippakis

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

- Yannis Philippakis

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.

- Yannis Philippakis

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 wa…

- Yannis Philippakis

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

- Yannis Philippakis

I started growing roses. I enjoyed the craft of it and that they're difficult to look after; they can provide joy.

- Yannis Philippakis