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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

Ladies pick funny things to be proud of.

Plant trees. They give us two of the most crucial elements for our survival: oxygen and books.

One thing changes every evening: It's the audience, and I'm working my magic. I'm always learning from it.

The supply of interpretations, like that of advice, greatly exceeds the need for them.

You can rescue a woman from a dragon - because you can go slay the dragon - but you can't rescue a woman from herself.

I'll say it loud and say it proud. I'm completely insane.

A lot of God-loving people think that killing people who don't agree with them is OK.

In the academic world, most of the work that is done is clerical. A lot of the work done by professors is routine.

Our admiration of the antique is not admiration of the old, but of the natural.

I often concentrate on the eyes and lips, they are great indicators of mood and feeling, and I find that I can project character into my portraits by bringing the viewer's attention to these areas.