I collect art books. I have hundreds and hundreds of them and they get me to start hearing things. Sometimes people look at them, but I find that visual art gets me listening, gets me hearing things.
For a song cycle to work, you have to feel these things when you hear them and you either have an emotional reaction to it or you don’t. The plotline is something that gets woven together in the backstory.
There are things that I refuse to deal with except through my music… because I don’t trust humanity that much, and I don’t know if I trust me that much. But I trust the songs.
I am finding that vulnerability gives me great strength, because you’re not hiding anymore. It’s really about being a pioneer for myself, going into the places where I am not being taught. I have to teach myself.
I was fascinated to think about a place where men could be the mothers and I thought of my own song-writing and I decided to have a relationship with their daughters.
Musically, I always allow myself to jump off of cliffs. At least that’s what it feels like to me. Whether that’s what it actually sounds like might depend on what the listener brings to the songs.