I feel like these sounds are the ultimate kind of free sounds, the ultimate public domain sounds. And I feel like people put them in completely different contexts, and they mean something different to everybody.
I don't really understand the natural world, I admire it and am a little bit afraid of its power.
I feel as though I can get an end result that works for me, but as far as recording techniques, I don't feel that confident in my abilities.
Last time I was recording, I was trying to loop on the computer, but it's really difficult because it's really different from looping on hardware.
Learning how to record has been super empowering for me, because I spent so many years going into the studio and watching other people do it. I guess a lot of musicians have gone through this because now recording is really available for everybody.
I can really only can record at home.
I think it's really different for me whether I'm touring as part of a larger group or if I'm touring on my own. It's a completely different experience, because when I tour on my own, it's really just me by myself, and I make nice relationships with people.
I feel like we as human beings are trampling all over the natural world, but at the same time, we are totally in its power.
When you're touring, it's somehow hard to focus on other things. I know other people can do it, but I really can't.
I have totally like an urbanite relationship to nature. I mean I'm not someone who hikes.
I saw Grizzly Man; I know what can happen.
People tend to eat through the cello. They tend to take out the things that make it beautifully cello-y sometimes.
I find when I'm touring or when I'm traveling, I just enter this other world kind of. It's much easier for me to be creative and be unselfconscious about creating when I'm home.
Sometimes when I'm traveling, I feel a little bit dislocated, especially the transitions you make when you're traveling - you go to a different city every day.
I love traveling and I love seeing new places and meeting new people, but at the same time, it takes a certain amount of emotional strength to gel with that, at least for me.
I'm always anxious in introducing sounds that don't originate with the cello.
I've been making the recordings for a long time, and I have tons and tons of them. I'm like a digital hoarder or something - everything is on like hard drives and whatever.
I enjoy touring and traveling because that's the time when I get to read, and listen to music. You have all that downtime, which is great for that.
I'm really not working in a environment that's sonically pristine. It's not a conventional studio, obviously; it's a bit ramshackle.
I find that I'm always struggling with the noise of the city. When I get a good take, there will be a horn or a siren or something. So it makes me very conscious of outside sounds, which in a way maybe led me to incorporate the field recordings.
It's just a spare room in my apartment. It's very cluttered and not particularly aesthetically inspiring, and it's very un-noise-proof.
I'm really terrible at sort of figuring out the thing that's going to make the money, I guess.
As soon as we get out of our urban shell, we're still at the mercy of nature as individuals.
