TRUTH

sM | In your commentary about getting over the block to writing “Prizefighter” you said there was this voice that said “Don’t make it great, make it true.” How does that reflect what you value most now in terms of creative output, and how have the last eight years pushed you in that direction?

TP ─ I see truth in music as something that is inscrutable, right? You write something down, you’re not even sure why it makes sense, but it just does. I’ve been able to find these spaces in my mind where I can access those moments, because they really are moments. I might have one thing that is true and that might be the only thing for the whole month, even with me working every day. So I have to really put in the time to get all the bad ideas out of my system so that I can find the one remnant of truth, write that down, capture it, and then move on until I can find the next thing. In truth is greatness, and so you can’t really have one without the other. But if you’re trying to just make something great, you would just be doing it for the wrong reasons; there’s a kind emptiness or this void that goes along with that. Whereas, if you just pursue truth, then you check the box of greatness without really trying.