I love listening to pop radio.
— Washed Out
In your imagination, you can perfect things in a way you can't do in your everyday life.
I don't think it's an exciting thing to move back in with your parents.
There are certain sounds that have a loaded past. Like the sound of a harp, if you go back to old movies, represents a dream sequence; it transports you there.
I try to stay on a pretty normal schedule of nine-to-five.
I'm without a doubt a producer first. The lyrics happen towards the tail-end of the process, mainly because they're more stream-of-consciousness. It's very rare that I'm going to tell a really concrete story.
Making music is pretty much the only thing I can do.
When you work this intensely on something, the recording process becomes a bit like cabin fever. I shut everything out and, for a while, I totally lost perspective. To an outsider, I imagine the whole recording process sounds like torture.
I have a little basement studio set up here at my house, and I do probably 80 percent of the recording here on my own. With multi-tracking technology, I can play various parts on top of one another.
When I look back at the record and listen to it, I can sort of see where I was at when I was making it - these brief little moments, different places I was at emotionally.
I've always, in some way, incorporated sampling into my work.
There are things I can accomplish in the studio via manipulation on the computer or some kind of effect that are nearly impossible to do live. On the flip side, there are some things that happen live that can't be pulled off in the studio.
I never want to make a complete, 180 reactional record. I wanted a connection to what I've done in the past but still move forward and evolve.
Over a year's time, I felt like I squeezed in five years of touring experience, which was a really huge help moving forward.
My parents live out in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of this peach orchard. It's actually Peach County, one of the largest peach-growing counties in Georgia. It's very rural, and there is nothing much going on, so I guess that's had a big influence on everything as far as just not having much to do.
Escapism or nostalgia, for me, is not about having a terrible life and trying to get away via imaginary ideas or something.
I've always written pop songs. I tend to take inspiration from more experimental genres, like ambient music, but at the root of the song, it's verse-chorus-verse.
I've struggled with depression before. For me, music was always a very positive way to will myself out of that situation.
When I think about making 'Within,' it was not a very fun experience at all.
I'm not a very technical musician at all.
The beautiful thing about working with new instruments is that you sort of approach it with a fresh perspective.
For some, being involved in a scene is a great thing because the social element can drive creativity. For me, though, it's never really been like that. It's the opposite. I've always had this instinct to escape.
I just have the normal ringtone, unfortunately.
The way I work is by infinitely playing a very simple loop over and over, and then I start layering things.
I definitely enjoy my time by myself - and that's kind of the weird thing about touring; you're kind of constantly surrounded by people - but I actually do enjoy going out and doing things and being around people.
I just make up lyrics off the top of my head. A lot of times, there's a phrase I really like, and I kind of build the song around that.
For the most part, the real work is done in the songwriting stage and recording; the next step is presenting to people.
Ultimately, what interests me is using exotic sounds in my songs.
I personally love the record-making more than the actually performing and travelling. It's funny, the drastic shift in lifestyle that comes with it. It certainly satisfies my more adventurous side, but it leaves little time for contemplation and all of that.
I want people to make sense of what I'm talking about.
One of the great things about music is how it can take you places.
Something on mainstream radio is very in your face with the vocals. I tried that, and it just doesn't feel like Washed Out. It's got to have that haziness to it.
It is easy to get an interesting loop to happen, but it becomes a collage when the song and loop are constantly changing.
Being outside is a loose theme on 'Paracosm.' Acoustic-sounding instruments have that warmth to them that is really important to communicate. It was really important for me to tell a story - my favorite records have a narrative feel.
When we're back home, I feel pretty domesticated.
Honestly, I've just made music so long by myself, in some ways I don't feel I'm a very good collaborator.
We lived in Atlanta for a couple of years, and had a lot of fun, but my best work happens when I isolate myself. It's all about turning inward.
Where I grew up in the middle of Georgia, hip-hop is king, and on Friday and Saturday nights, local DJs do mixes. It's a great mix of local stuff and then some of the bigger hits and remixes of the hits, and it just has this nice flow with a dirty-South sound to everything.
I took piano lessons when I was really young, like five years old, and I didn't really enjoy that very much. It was kind of too strict. So when I was probably 11 or 12, I started playing guitar and just kind of taught myself.
I was definitely the kid in the back of the class with his head down the whole time not wanting to speak up and say anything.
I normally start at the computer with something really simple like a four-bar loop of a drum sample or a bass line. And then I just start adding layers of synthesizers.
I definitely enjoy the kind of magic that happens being on stage with a group when everything's working. The vibe when that's happening gets even better if the audience is involved and you can feel that interaction. That's something you don't get with your headphones on in a studio; it's much different.
I get very bored easily. I'm a child of the Internet or whatever; I want more and more of new and interesting things.
I don't think I would change anything. I think we've done a fairly good job of remaining sane and making the right decisions.
I do try to structure everything in a way that's very much like a pop song. I try to keep the arrangements really simple, just to make everything essential.
I'm very happy in my life, but I do feel that music has a power to transport you to places or to beautiful moments in your past.
