I think it's almost a law of nature that there are only certain things that hit an emotive space, and that's what was always special for me about music: it made me feel something.
When I started music, I think it was responsible for keeping me sane, because training as a dancer really kept me in good spirits amid all the crazy stuff that happened when I first became popular.
I think that there's always room for humour in music. It's something that always takes itself so seriously, which I think is a bit of a shame.
The freedom you feel when you're actually in control of your own music is fantastic.
The music industry is in such poor shape; it's in a really bad way, and a lot of people in the industry are very depressed.
Writing, film, sculpture, music: it's all make-believe, really.
I have this desire in the back of my mind now of making music and film at the same time - putting the two together.
I listen to very little music, particularly contemporary. If I listen to it, it's going to be my own music, some arrangement or something. I spend so much time listening that the way I relax is by watching things, a comedy; that's my way to wind down.
My music can be a little obscure. It does worry me that the music might be too complicated for people to take in - that they have to work too hard at it.
Obviously I try to make the best music that I can, but after about two years of making an album, you start to worry: 'Is it going to come out all right? Is it all going to sound churned out?'
Some of the best pop music ever has come out of the States.
To say that you like music is a bit like saying youlike the whole world.
Irish folk is probably the biggest influence musically that I've ever had. My mother's Irish. And when I was very young, both my brothers were very into traditional music, English and Irish. They were always playing music, so I was always brought up with it.