How did you connect with Chris Taylor [of Grizzly Bear]?

I was just crazy in love with that album [Veckatimest]. When we worked together in the Grizzly church, he’s working with the bloody computer on a guitar case, this whole makeshift studio, and I’m like, “Well, where do you make your records?” and he’s like, “We do it like this.” He’s working with very little, and achieving a lot. He’s a really talented guy… We’re both perfectionists in different kind of levels. The thing that I’ll always respect Chris for is that it was so exhausting, and I was really demanding. If we didn’t eat macrobiotic food, we just couldn’t even stay awake. We were eating the cleanest food.

Is that a normal part of your diet, now?

It is a little bit. I try, although I just ate a brisket sandwich.

How’s living in New York? How does being here influence you?

New York’s amazing. It’s influencing me because… well obviously, I couldn’t bring all my studio stuff. In Berlin, I had all my shit in a big room. And to be honest, it was overwhelming, you know? I grew up with this one sampler and a computer, and I did a lot of shit on there. [When] you don’t have any choices, it’s just like, “What else can I do with this?” You’ve only got two colors in your paint-box. You come up with styles, and then you end up getting some money and buying all the colors of the rainbow. And then you just end up making boring shit.

I saw [in your promo video] the Quincy Jones picture. Is there a story to that?

It was Montreaux Jazz Festival. We were playing, and the promoter thought that I was a bit of a charlatan. But when we played the show, he was like, “Not bad. Something about you I like. Do you wanna meet Quincy Jones?” It was Quincy’s birthday, and he was trashed. I came up, and he was like, “Where you from?” I was like, “England.” And he was like, “What?!” “I’m from England.” “What?!” He was freaking me out a bit. And then he got me in a fucking headlock! I went down to speak to him close to his ear ‘cuz he couldn’t hear me, and he grabbed my head, like, “You’re from England? Well, I just spoke to Amy Winehouse, and I told her to get off the drugs, man. ‘Cuz you know my daughter…” and he just goes on this crazy personal story. I wasn’t expecting this… It was super weird, and I’m just like, “I’m with Quincy. He’s amazing… And kinda crazy.”

That’s a keeper.

It is.