Him: "Do you find that you compare yourself to other musicians?"

Me: "Well...I guess. Especially if I'm hearing them for the first time. It's probably impossible to just listen without stealing ideas or getting inspiration or thinking, 'Wow, I could do something like this,' or 'I could never do something like this,' you know?"

Him: "Yeah."

Me: "That's why I can't wait to do another album. Because I want to see what will come out if I approach it from the angle of thinking about the listener. What do people like to hear? It's not something you can pin down, but I didn't think about that at all with this project. I mean, it didn't even occur to me that people would be reviewing it and listening to it on a regular basis."

Him: "I think there's a certain value in doing it that way too though."

Me: "Yeah, it's probably a balance. But I haven't had the time to just sit down and experiment with songs. Most of the songs I've written in the past 5 years were written because I had to survive something, and the song helped with that. So they're pretty heavy tunes. That's why it's nice to have the time to just explore some other themes besides fucking heartbreak and sadness."

Him: "Yeah."

Me: "Do you want to go out tonight?"

Him: "I don't know, do you?"

Me: "Curling up and watching a show sounds pretty great."

Him: "Sounds fucking perfect."