Can you tell us about why you chose the title Dendrophile for your new album? A Dendrophile is a person who gets an erotic charge out of nature. While writing the songs for this record I spent a lot of time on a fallen log in a ravine in Tennessee. For me the idea of honoring nature not only includes dirt, trees, moss, sky, etc., but also the unique nature within each of us as individuals. I’m most turned on by people who I believe are exploring their own nature and who are willing to share their discoveries with others.

You’ve written that for you there is “no opposite sex, only identity and desire.” Can you expand on what you mean by that?I believe that sexuality and sexual desire are created by a phantasm related to intimacy with another person and how you desire to be perceived within a close physical exchange or scenario which plays out within a constructed and, hopefully, consensual dynamic. Gender identity comes from how you desire to be perceived within your community or social setting. So even if the gendered body is used for fulfillment of certain desires it doesn’t necessarily dictate what those desires are.

What is it you love most about the cabaret? I love being in a room full of people who are drinking and enjoying music who are willing to let their guard down and give in to whatever they are feeling or experiencing in the moment, knowing that the moment can never be repeated or recaptured.