I can hear dishes. Are you cooking?
I’m preparing my crock pot, so that in the morning I will have organic, free-range chilli!

 

You told Spin you were terrified about this tour. Why is that?
Because what I didn’t know what we had. It was still very close. You create an album, and then you go from the studio to doing interviews all of a sudden, and it’s a very raw, vulnerable experience. I wasn’t sure how it was going to be received. And as a once A+ student, I’m bad at criticism.

 

For your new album, Nikki Nack, you went to the library to learn how to write a hit song. But traditional hit songs have never been your thing.
I’ve come to learn that I have enough experimentation and tendencies towards weird, but I really did get into music because there were more people listening. Music is a way of creating amazing communal experiences—us being at a concert together. It’s also the music I grew up with, great pop music which is hard to come by these days. Deep musically and lyrically—those are the songs I want to create. I think it’s possible to do both: songs that are catchy and accessible but which have depth to them.

 

Where’s the craziest place you’ve ever made music?
I would say Poland. Some of my ancestors were from Poland, and I think it’s an incredible place. That's one of many places. But there I think it was because people had such an appreciation for our music, and in a place very far-flung from the place that the music had come from.

 

What are you listening to these days?
I’m a voting member of the [National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences], so I have to vote on the music nominated for the Grammys. Today I was listening to a lot of Beyonce and Beck. I really enjoyed his new one [Morning Phase]. He combines lots of new digital elements with these Neil Young-y sounding songs. I’m still listening to [Nigerian funk musician] William Onyeabor and lots of different music from Ethiopia.

 

You have this amazing ability to pick up new instruments really quickly. How does that even work in your brain?
The newest were the Haitian drums. It’s very daunting. It feels like when you’re a kid and things like tying your shoelaces are frustrating. You see adults doing it and you think, “Man, I should be able to do this myself.” Lately, I’ve been asking myself, “What does this instrument want to do” not “what I should do to it”. That’s been more of a helpful approach. I’m hopefully becoming a better student as I get older.

 

What's with all the bright neon clothes and music videos?
For better or for worse, the image that musicians present is part of the package, from Beyonce and Katy Perry to Yoko Ono and Debbie Harry to women who dress more masculine like Laurie Anderson who’s lately been a hero of mine. They’re choices we make. The music is very dark and very light at the same time, so I really wanted to highlight the light side of it.