Spirited in pen and song

June 18, 2011|By Maria Oliver, Globe Correspondent

Q. When did you realize you wanted to write a book?

A. I didn’t really decide that I wanted to write a book. The editor at FSG found my music on Pandora and he wrote me a fan letter out of nowhere asking if I would write a book. I was like, “I’m not sure what gave you the idea I might be interested in writing a book’’, and he said he liked the sensibility of my music and thought I might be able to apply that to writing prose. First I tried fiction, but it just felt kind of awkward; to turn reality into fantasy was very difficult for me at that time. After seven months, I gave him like 10 pages and he seemed to like best the parts that were true.

Q. Do you know what you’d like to write next?

A. I actually wrote a screenplay after I finished the book. It’s so much less abstract when you’re not just writing for some imaginary individual person sitting in their armchair, reading your story. You’re imagining that your words will actually be brought to life, you know, that they will become animated, so that was a lot of fun.

Q. You talk about quirky experiences that have happened to you, from having disastrous Craigslist auditions with weird producers to battling male strippers in Siberia. How did you get yourself into these situations?

A. The Craigslists auditions I think is actually a pretty common place for any musician. As for battling male strippers, I totally take responsibility for that, that’s just odd.

Q. Your second album also came out this month. What can you tell us about it?

A. I think my music and the book really reflect two completely different sides of my personality. My music is often described as haunting, dark, passionate, and raw. I think this album is probably my most accessible album yet and probably even my happiest.

Q. What would you say is the most noticeable difference between this album and your first one?

A. My first album was really a collection of demos. It was almost recorded live, you know, one or two takes in the studio, recorded very quickly, whereas this album is very lush, it includes cellos, trumpets, flutes, multiple layers of guitars and electric bass and all that. It’s a very orchestral album, and I think more well-developed. That’s the goal, right? You keep moving forward, you keep trying to get better, and hopefully become more sophisticated without losing the emotional heart of the music. What I love about music is the ability to move people, and that’s definitely what I’m trying to do.

Q. Is there anything different you’d like to do?

A. I’d really like to radically change genres and instrumentation… . I think I’ve gotten to the end of my rope in terms of playing rock songs. I don’t think I can top this album in terms of rock or guitar-driven music.