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 to let 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 ele-mental; 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 pretty bare, straightforward terms with a ton of effects.

When the time came to record, I was the only person who really knew the album I wanted to make, so that process changed, too. On past records, I've always sketched out ideas and then worked to develop them in the studio with another producer/engineer. This time, it made the most sense to refine, record, and mix at home.

Writing inside/absent, I think I was hearing and experiencing a lot of outside art and music that made no emotional impression on me. I guess I wanted to at least make myself feel something through music, and it seemed that the best wayto do that was just to be as real and honest as possible.