Do you see a connection between the landscapes you paint and the music you make?

I hope I have the same values in the music that I make as the paintings I make. I would say there are very strong moods and temperatures in the paintings; they're not always realistic landscapes or places, but they definitely have the feeling of a place. And yeah, I'm trying to make that with my music.

There's a sort of magical, lonely city night quality to your paintings. I would have almost expected you to tell me you were listening to a wailing saxophone as you painted.

I think that's in me. I love that music, and all that shit is in my playlist, but I can't just listen to quiet storm music, as beautiful as it is. It’s got to be peppered in with something ridiculous and fun.

One throughline I've seen in doing these interviews is that there isn’t necessarily an aesthetic connection between the work an artist makes and the audio they consume. It’s more utilitarian.

Yeah. Oh my gosh, I have a new friend—I really like this person's paintings. And I was asking her what she listens to in the studio, and she's like, “Silence. I need all the focus.” That’s so antithetical to what I do, which is to almost distract myself until I’m subconscious, like my awareness levels are down and I'm kind of instinctual—or not as present. And I think that's where I do a lot of things I wouldn't do in full presence.

If I felt precious with these paintings and tentative about doing things, they would be very different works. So the idea of being completely present and focused is a wild idea to me. Maybe my ideas happen outside the studio, and then when I get in the studio, I’m trying to achieve some kind of flow state.

I love that new Christmas song you put out on Nina.

I was working on that before Christmas. And I was like, Come on, get it done on Christmas, get it done on Christmas. And then I got it done a couple days after Christmas. And I came up with the title right then, and everything was fine.

I'm kind of a perfectionist with releases, even when I make stuff that sounds really improvised. Like, I have to sit with it for a while or really finesse the production, even though I'm hitting the wrong note or whatever. This one I just cranked out, and I think Nina encouraged that in me. So that was cool.

What were your experiences with Christmas growing up? Were you listening to a lot of Christmas songs?

I love Christmas. I love Christmas music. [Singing] “It's the holiday season / And zoop de zoop / And hippity hop / And don’t forget / To hang up your socks.” The Andy Williams version of that is pretty great.

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