Alex G

“None of my family members are particularly musical except for my older brother. He has Asperger's and perfect pitch.”

“The only times I get uncomfortable is when people are looking into my actual life, just because, like anybody, there's tons of stuff I'd like to keep private.”

“I guess the hope is that people will like me or something.”

“If it doesn't happen in the studio, if the magic doesn't happen then, you're paying for that time and you have to go back the next time, whereas at home, I can sit there all day until some magic happens.”

“I often send my songs to my friend Emily Yacina who will add harmonies, but other than that I do everything myself. That's definitely my preferred way to work. I think I'm a control freak. I get hyper-focused and when someone offers advice - even if it's really good advice - I talk myself out of whatever they say.”

“I used to just send the music to my friends and I wouldn't put a name on it, and then they would label it as Alex G. That was just what everybody called me, because there was another Alex or something, and it would be on Last.fm or whatever like 'Alex G.'”

“Interviews are just something that I'm not great at.”

“A couple people close to me became religious suddenly. It's a radical change, if you're going to make that leap of faith.”

“My sister's CD collection was my source of music for a long time. When she showed me 'Kid A,' I was really psyched about the electronic drums and creepy voices. Radiohead was my gateway into other bands, like Modest Mouse.”

“That's how I listen to music. When I was younger, I had Modest Mouse, then Elliott Smith, then Radiohead, one at a time - like, 'I'm obsessed with you.'... It feels like they're your friend.”

“I sort of assume everyone has ulterior motives. People aren't necessarily like that, but I'm a paranoid person.”

“The older I'm getting, the more I'm getting a writer's block or something. It's harder to come up with an idea that I feel is truly original. Or something like that. You know what I mean? Just because the older I get, the more I see through my own pretension.”

“My intention is to make something that you can listen to a hundred times.”

“I admire Aphex Twin. His ability to make moving music while still challenging the listener - his attention to detail.”

“For every album, I feel an obligation to myself to make something that I'm really proud of. But other than that, I make an effort not to feel any pressure from outside forces.”

“When I'm thinking of a song, it's not like, 'This would be a great 'me' song.' I'm just like, 'This would be a cool song.'”

“From like 15 to 19, all I listened to was Elliott Smith. I started to appreciate the more human aspect of music and was attracted to the idea of writing my own lyrics. It became important to me to express myself verbally as opposed to just making stuff that sounded cool.”

“I wouldn't think about the career side of it too hard, I would just make music because you love it. That's that. That's all I was doing.”

“I think that before I signed to Domino, I was a little more like, 'I gotta do it all,' because I'm trying to get paid, or something. Now I feel a little more secure. Maybe I'm less pretentious now. Maybe I'm more pretentious. I don't know.”

“I don't feel like I'm that mysterious, I just don't have a lot to say.”