The only difficult thing is learning to recognise the interesting bits from those millions of moments life provides you with every day and writing down those snippets.

I think The Czars had an identity crisis, as we were five guys pulling in different musical directions.

The thing is I don't feel like my story is special. I don't feel like it's different to anybody else.

I feel like, in the Czars, for example, I was afraid. I couldn't express myself. I didn't have a connection to myself. That's one of the huge reasons why it was such a difficult existence. I put a lot of that on myself. I couldn't access myself. I couldn't look at myself, because I was too ashamed.

My mother was a very sweet soul and a beautiful person, but she had a lot of fear.

Do you know the solo at the end of 'Why Don't You Love Me Any More?' that sounds like a chainsaw breaking through? That is what I can't do with my voice. That's when you hear how painful this has been to me.

Icelanders love to speak English. Their English is a joy to hear because of how colloquial and idiomatic it is, but they appreciate your efforts with Icelandic.

I can only live in the world of truth, inasmuch as I'm able to be truthful with myself at any given point, on any given day.

I can't allow myself to censor myself.

I suppose my ideal brain food is learning languages.

I would love to be part of a community.

I don't feel like I'm writing music for gay people. I'm a gay man who is writing music about one tiny little experience of what it's like to be a human on this planet.

I could probably use some tips from a vocal trainer or something about breathing, but we all know it's not about technical prowess.

Reykjavik has a mixture of southern and northern mentality. There's a laid-back, relaxed attitude but also the feeling things are going to get done.

I love that phrase that parents say to their children when they cry: 'I'll give you something to cry about.'

I'm not a big punk fan, but I love a good, solid screamer.

I don't really listen to my old music.

The lion's share of what I listened to in the Eighties, what really affected me, was coming from Britain.

I believe humans have a soul that continues to exist after they die, but I don't know what form that will take.

Me becoming a person, instead of somebody who just hides and is afraid, has happened in tandem with me learning to write music and become a good songwriter.

I was so ashamed of who I was. And I also felt like an outcast in gay society as well because I wasn't good-looking enough; my body wasn't good enough.

I don't let the computer into my bedroom. It would get in the way of life, sleep. And I really can't let that happen.

It really was an amazing thing when Midlake brought me down to Texas and created an atmosphere in which I felt really safe and was able to do whatever I wanted artistically.

The snappier lyrics come when I'm feeling really good and up. A lot of times, they come after I've just had a meeting with somebody that was uplifting, and you get home, and you're feeling playful or upbeat or whatever, and then they just seem to pop right out.

I don't really experience much embarrassment.

I come from a position where it seems like I have an addictive quality to everything in my life.

That inner narrative - the desire to understand the way I am - never really switches off.

The 1980s were all about synths for me, and it never went away after that.

I grew up singing in a church choir.

I overthink everything.

When I got into languages, I needed to amass things to make myself more palatable or more acceptable as a human.

My music is definitely very personal. The songs are about moments, snapshots of everyday life, and about having one's say, or at least feeling like one has had one's say.

I just felt that I was going to fall apart if I didn't learn to be myself.

I think the thing that I find the most difficult to talk about is religion.

In my family, I was loved, but only if I would fight this gay thing and not let it take over me. I would be loved unconditionally if I could be cured of my 'sickness,' but it certainly would not be OK if I couldn't.

I felt like a failure for so long because I wasn't able to access myself in the way I knew I would have if I was going to make music that mattered. I knew I was going to have to learn how to be honest.

I still deal with triggers and neuroses that I've developed over the decades. But I do think I have a great amount of compassion for people who feel that they don't fit in, or people who feel they have trouble finding their place in this world.

Part of what I do, after feeling invisible for a long time, is make an effort not to be invisible any more.

I think I have a great voice, but it's not special enough to be remembered. But what's special about me is much more than just my voice.

I love patchwork quilts. But not in music.

I really do feel like music is the only thing that I can do.

I can't create music if I'm wearing a mask and not being myself, and that was the problem with The Czars.

If 'Queen Of Denmark' was about my childhood, then 'Pale Green Ghosts' is definitely about my adolescence, and that period was completely dominated by electronic music.

I don't know about the totally happy album, though. I don't know if that will ever come from me.

I seem to be very attracted to strong female personalities in acting and music.

I feel uncomfortable when I think about my father listening to my records, because I don't want to hurt him.

I feel like, every single decision I make and every single album I make, it's all about letting go. Letting go of the past and just getting on with it.

When I write my songs, I'm writing about the pain, the joy, and the ridiculousness of being a human.

I've kept going to therapy to find out why my perspective is so skewered and why I'm filled with rage. It's so I can live in this world alongside these other people who seem to be what is desired and what the world wants.

I spent many years trying to fit in and do things the way I thought I was supposed to - trying to be perceived the way I thought people wanted to see me. I grew up in a very religious household and wasn't taught to feel comfortable or good about my sexuality, so it feels great to be able to say things the way I want to say them.