iSound

I wrote most of this record while on tour in the U.S.and Europe with The Faint and Beep Beep, sketching out ideas on my laptop after shows and before sound checks. Touring with a band, most of what you do is for the greater good of the group, so personal lives tend to take a back seat. How I went about writing inside/absent was probably a reaction to that. I decided early on not tolet anyone hear any of it until it was done. Relying totally on my own ideas - not having anyone else's outside opinion or influence - was a way of keeping a part of myself going. I think it was because of that separation from other people's input that the writing style shifted. I found myself keeping things a little more elemental;steering away from programming, opting for sparser percussion, and keeping instrumentation as minimal as songs could take.The lyrics became a lot more direct, and the vocal style kind of followed suit. It just didn't seem appropriate to layer these things that were said in prett...