For my second record I had gotten ProTools (program) and started to familiar myself with hard disc recording.

My first two records were more energetic; Phantom Moon is subtle, quiet; so these various reactions are just something I expected.

Because of my Buddhist practice, I'm never lacking for inspiration.

If I were to do this over I'd play a lot more shows before I made a record.

The difficult thing about a pop record is that you're given guidelines: it has to have 3 choruses, and then it must be between 3 minutes fifteen seconds and three minutes forty-five seconds.

I certainly wouldn't say that my life is a disaster, but there have been moments where I've felt like that.

I mean, at the end of the day when I'm making a record, what I want to do is what I do.

I also wanted to make a record that was about other things than romance, yeah, after two years on the road singing all the songs from the first album, I got kind of tired of that.

I actually am always a music first person.

But really important, perhaps most important is the craft; how you make your record, the creation of these sonic worlds you want your listener to hear.

I'm fortunate I have this coterie of musicians around me to help take music to next level. Being surrounded by so much creative energy, so many creative people really feeds that creativity in me.

My second record was all about big ideas - I was trying to make big statements about the culture, about life. I think in a certain way, I was a 27 year old kid with a guitar.

Simon Hale, the British arranger, does all string and wood arrangements on my records.

I try to make sure that the Buddhism is more or less implicit in the music rather than explicit.

Lately I've been a workaholic. I'm in the studio all the time and I've helped to produce a couple of artists.

Things come to me pretty regularly. There is never a shortage or a backlog.

And frankly, when I made that record, hit songs were not what I was trying to achieve.

I got a publishing deal with BMG, they were supportive, and some money to record demos.

The experiences of promoting my first album were really something; there is so much illusion in my environment (touring and pop music) that I wanted to clear away.

But I can't really say there is too much modern music that I'm blown away by at this moment.

So, once I've written a song, you know, I'm pretty happy with what the song is on its own terms.

It's inevitable your environment will influence what you do.

I wouldn't say that I've had a tough life by any stretch of the imagination.

I actually think sadness and darkness can be very beautiful and healing.

Ultimately, if I'm really moved by something, it's going to go on the record and that's that.

I make the kind of music I like.

I think my Buddhist practice has a profound influence on my life and encompasses my creative projects.

I'm a pretty big P.J. Harvey record fan and you can really hear New York in his record.

Happy music doesn't tend to move me much.

I'd have these weird experiences where I'd just be walking down the street with this chord progression in my head, this happened more than a few times, and I'd walk home and find a fax in my machine and it would match the music in my head.

I think in a way I was probably completely naive about what it takes to make something become a hit.

I started playing music at a pretty young age.

I feel fortunate about being able to make the music I want to make and getting away with it.

For my second record I had gotten ProTools (program) and started to familiar myself with hard disc recording.

So I started chanting when I was nineteen, which was about twelve years ago, and it really had a huge impact on my outlook, happiness, and general creativity.

I privilege the music over the lyrics.

A real foolproof way to do it is play your stuff by hook or by crook and build up a grass roots following.

Its inevitable your environment will influence what you do.

Economists have allowed themselves to walk into a trap where we say we can forecast, but no serious economist thinks we can. You don't expect dentists to be able to forecast how many teeth you'll have when you're 80. You expect them to give good advice and fix problems.

I've worked in the prison system for five years, and most of those folks in prison didn't have a direction.

The worst moment was when I was performing and I was about to sing, but I choked. I had a tickle in my throat and I started coughing, and I couldn't get the words out. It lasted for like thirty seconds, but I got over it, and luckily the crowd didn't seem to care.

I can't ask for every movie I make to be great and brilliant. I can only try.

I got by as a musician since day one. I don't live beyond my means. I have real cheap tastes.

Mycologists are few and far between. We are under-funded, poorly represented in the context of other sciences - ironic, as the very foundation of our ecosystems are directly dependent upon fungi, which ultimately create the foundation of soils.

Autism is a complicated illness, and children with a variety of treatments and non-treatments show improvement over time, which is all to the good.

Most of the infections linked to human cancers are common in human populations; they are ubiquitous. They were present during the whole human evolution process.

I am perfectly happy being his friend in fact I love it... I just have this incredible urge to kiss him that doesnt go away... and this feeling that we would be perfect together.

I don't have a Madonna-sized fan base, so I can actually e-mail and talk to everyone that e-mails me, because I am totally appreciative and I like my fans!

I grew up in Milan during the golden age of designers. There was fashion all around.