So you treat the record as a document of what’s been going on in your life?
I think that’s true. It wasn’t meant to be cathartic, [but] I wanted to kind of get rid of all these ideas that I’ve had in my head forever about leaving friends behind, and perhaps the way things could have been different in my life. I’m not really a person who’s thinking about the past too much in a realistic way, but I do romanticize it. I kind of fixate on people I’ve met or known. That’s what I wanted this record to close the door on, for me, personally…. I also wanted to kind of sonically reference records that have been important to me during these different times of my life. Whatever the lyrics may be pertaining to would kind of relate to the music I was listening to at the time. I think that’s the reason why some of the songs play differently than others, because [the album] is kind of looking back on thirty years of me constantly moving and leaving different people.

The thing I love about Cold Cave is that your music is so familiar, but totally original, taking one sound and building around it. There’s that reference point for people to grab onto.
Yeah, that’s the message for it. I think I’m pretty terrible at understanding what it sounds or looks like from an outside perspective. When the record was done, it took a few weeks to sit back and kind of laugh at how big it sounded. It was kind of overwhelming for me, but I was really happy…. I got really tired of purposefully making lo-fi music, and I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to have my voice shielded under effects and self-consciousness. I just wanted to stand behind [the music], put everything I was showing on the line, and make a bold statement…. I was totally nervous in the studio because I truly believe it’s not okay, in other people’s eyes, to care about what you’re doing and to wear things on your sleeve… but I think that’s okay, and I’m proud to have made this record.

I’m surprised you say you were nervous because you sound so confident on this album.
By the time I did the vocals, the music was pretty much done. I wanted [the album] to sound a certain way, and I didn’t want to put out another record with hushed vocals. I didn’t think it suited the music at all.