I learned a lot about my voice from making my first record, The Names, and playing a hundred shows for it. It almost became like training a muscle. It made me feel much more confident when I started making Man of the World last fall.

It comes from my perspective as an American living in London and witnessing political upheaval unlike anything thus far in my life. Watching the rise of a vile political figure that I consider a threat to humanity while living an ocean away. The world as our main environment and the situations that affects us have the lead place on this album.

I tend to try and question answers rather than answer questions — Dangeroue Anamal comes very specifically from my disdain for climate change deniers while acknowledging that I eat meat and travel the world constantly, and have a greater carbon footprint than the average denier. Who is ultimately more culpable? Obviously climate change is something that needs to be tackled by all governments, but I’m questioning the morality of it as a single person. Sensitive Guy is very similar in that, as I question my complicity in the violent acts of the government I pay taxes to. I don’t have the answers, but I wish I did.

I wanted to make a sound that blended electronics with brass, and that had flourishes of hip hop production while referencing soul and funk. Records that were front of mind were So by Peter Gabriel, Konnichiwa by Skepta, 1965 by the Afghan Whigs, Do It (Til You’re Satisfied) by B.T. Express, Stax compilations, and early Wu-Tang production.

Of course, being in a band for the past ten years of my life has played a major role in shaping me as a solo artist. Being able to self-produce, art direct, and direct videos comes from watching my incredibly gifted band mates.

My solo stuff ends up being the fullest expression of what I like. I have total control!

I consider everything to ultimately be an expression of taste, whether it’s a playlist I listen while running, or a bassline I wrote. It’s all connected!

I grew up in suburban New York, took piano lessons since I was nine, played in a terrible pop punk band in my teens, moved to the big city and in my junior year joined a band called Vampire Weekend. I started learning about production and sound after the band’s first album, eventually got confident enough to put out my first EP, then started singing and put out my first record two years ago. Doing college radio and DJing were also very important parts of my development as a musician and as an artist.

To be honest, I consider every response to the music I make as valid. Good review, bad review, deep analysis of the lyrics, enjoyment of the songs without thinking about the lyrics, etc.; it’s all good as far as I’m concerned. We’re living in a serious historical time and I think that however people want to tackle it – whether as music listeners or as music makers – is appropriate. We’ve had multiple terror attacks at concerts over the past few years, and as a result I consider listening to and enjoying music to be an inherently political act, perhaps more than ever before. Music as pure escapism is also a beautiful thing.

Make it catchy and stay true to what you are feeling.

Lyrics come last. I either start with chords on a piano or with beats on a computer, and then find my way.

Yes. Usually when I have this mental itch, I need to scratch it. I never force working on music, I only do it when I need to.

I am a big fan of streaming and am happy to be making a living off music!