I definitely don’t have a premeditated story that I want to tell. I let the story tell itself, if that makes sense. I don’t really believe in starting an album with a concept in mind. I think that that comes after, once you’ve expressed yourself truthfully, and then you find the story within it. I can’t try to plan what I’m going to go through while I’m writing, it has to just happen. That’s pretty much how it goes for me. I never want to feel boxed into anything at all.
Petrichor is described in the press materials as a Gothic epic, and you’ve already mentioned that you drew on cinema for inspiration. What were some of the films that informed it most strongly?
I was watching Persona a lot. That’s a movie that was often on the screen while I was making it. And The Color of Pomegranates as well, and Climax, which I already mentioned. I was kind of just keeping those three on loop, honestly. I think I’ve seen Persona now, like, 15 times without the sound. As soon as I go into the studio, I put it on the screen and then I work to it.
Would you ever want to write a film score?
Oh, yeah. That’s one of my biggest dreams. I’d be so proud to get the opportunity to score a film. A lot of what I write gets stripped back because I want to meet the listener halfway. Sometimes I’ll have a 10-minute intro and it’s just the most beautiful instrumentation you’ve heard, but then I have to get back to reality and be like, all right, I need to cut this down to two minutes so that it’s intelligible and works as part of the album. But I’m also working on a classical piece with my buddy Johan Lenox, who’s a composer, so that I can be completely free in that—so I can make those 15-minute songs that I want to make.
Are there other creative mediums as well that you pull from, or that feed you creatively?
I’m not a good painter, but I do like to paint sometimes, and I like to watch people paint. Art is a major driving force for me. But it’s really just observing the world in general, that’s where I get most of my inspiration—even just going to breakfast and studying the people around me. That’s why I came out to Malibu as well, just being able to be in this openness and to observe nature a little more. I’m from the East Coast, and I felt like I could see the world better out here.
