I like the idea that songs can communicate in a way no other media can. That's why I write them. David Longstreth More Quotes by David Longstreth More Quotes From David Longstreth Sometimes you get really bitter about how the prettiest images don't typically end up attached to the most interesting music. But I just take that as a challenge to try to do something cool. David Longstreth challenges trying interesting Clearly, things are definitely changing in big ways as far as the way we consume music, listen to music, and what we expect from music. David Longstreth listening-to-music bigs way You think about, like, [20th-century classical composers] Alban Berg, Schoenberg, and Webern sitting around in some living room in Vienna and being like, "We are the end of music. We are the end of this tradition. Music is done." David Longstreth done sitting thinking I'm the worst at favourites! I don't have one - I love all my children, I love them all equally. David Longstreth my-children worst children I do feel like the hardest thing is to do something simple and tap into whatever remains of our common language rather than cultivating your own willfully esoteric vocabulary. David Longstreth esoteric vocabulary simple There's a certain power in vague language, but I started to get more into the idea of really trying to have a discrete thought in the lyrics and to have songs that were about stuff - to try to make things more coherent. David Longstreth song trying ideas I feel like the world is super different now than it was in 2009. And to get at something that's somewhat darker, harsher, rougher, and a bit more challenging feels right. David Longstreth different challenges world I love that, for Kanye [West], there's no difference between the epic and the personal. That makes him sound like a really grandiose douche - which, I don't think anyone, himself included, could contest - but at the same time, it's really amazing. I love the scope of his perfectionism. David Longstreth differences epic thinking I'm super interested in visual, and I love that being in a band can be as much about making an image as it is about making a sound. David Longstreth visuals band sound I think certain people would be moved to be nostalgic about America's glory days, when the music set the tone for the cultural conversation and popular musicians had this absurd level of authority. David Longstreth america people thinking Sometimes when you're on tour, it feels like you're living the same day over and over again. David Longstreth like-you feels sometimes When you make a melody that doesn't come with words from the get-go, sometimes you're just thinking about random vowel sounds that go with it - and it's really, really hard to write lyrics that actually obey the vowel sounds. David Longstreth sound writing thinking The idea of letting a recording be a moment in time appealed to me. With digital recording, it's easy to create a perfect text of whatever song you have. David Longstreth perfect song ideas You have to figure out as a band how a band becomes a business, and then you have to keep that business mentality separate from the creative one, which is good for the songs. It's always a work in progress. David Longstreth progress creative song It's a weird job because making music or writing a song is a personal thing... and it kind of has to be. You can always tell when people are faking. David Longstreth writing song jobs What appeals to me about 'Blind Willie' is just how sparse that music is. Just this idea - the grain of it, the rawness of it and the simplicity of it. The directness of the language. David Longstreth me simplicity music language I remember when I first saw 'Guided by Voices'; those earlier recordings are so deconstructed, kind of like four-track music, and so artful in their collage and in their weird fragility. David Longstreth weird like music remember A song isn't a newspaper. It might feel direct, but it's not. David Longstreth newspaper feel direct song Songs, a while ago, became the medium through which I process most of the information that I receive and feel. But I go back and forth about whether this is all of life or whether you're missing something important in living and whether or not, as a humanist, you're abnegating a certain responsibility if this - this art - is just where you are. David Longstreth you responsibility life art When the Swing Lo Magellan touring wound up, it felt like the end of something for me, and I needed a break from touring. But really, the co-writing and producing I did after this gave me a different perspective on this whole thing. To me, that was like being a different spoke on the wheel. David Longstreth swing end me perspective
