Take Me Apartbreakup, but definitely we about to be on our way out., the breakup feels more communal. There is that feeling of isolation but then of something being severed. Did you sense you were personally breaking from something as you were making it?
There are moments where it’s almost like my mouth is moving in response to the sound of the thing. And I am finding out after what I’m even speaking to. Something similar happened with “Raven.” Like, as soon as AceMo started playing the synth, I was like,. Even after I wrote a lot of these songs on the record, I realized a lot of what I’m dealing with is the emotional stuntedness of men.That’s what I’m confronting throughout, like, when it’s romantic, even when it’s a sweet song.
. Then I just started Googling different birds; the second one I Googled was “raven.” And I was like,Okay, so this is what it says: “Because of its black plumage, croaking, diet of carrion, the raven is often associated with loss. And ill omen.” So I thought that was really deep. The artwork, the sound of this album — I think a lot of people would say it’s darker. And maybe, topically, people would receive that sadness. Yet its symbolism is complex.
You explained that you have this impulse to try and pull on the stoicism of people, but then in “Raven” there’s “Don’t need no favors / It’s all good, I’ve moved on … Over the line, goin’ in tonight … ’Cause I know what I need tonight,” where you’re just like,Exactly. There’s a boundary setting on this record. That’s another thread/theme. I’ve always led with tenderness and vulnerability. Those are staples I would say on this record.