12. Townes van ZandtTownes Van Zandt

I got into this through my first boyfriend in college… I have a pretty vivid memory of it. I didn’t have any boyfriends in high school because I was a very serious artist, I was always working on my paintings! I didn’t go to parties, but I had a boyfriend in a band at university and he put this on. I don’t know which song it was but I loved it immediately, the pain in his voice. I felt excited to discover him. He’s a little bit romantic, more than a little bit actually, ‘Quicksilver Dreams of Maria’, ‘Even The Moonlight Was Blinding’, his lines are so full of brilliant imagery.

He’s an artist with a certain mythology, how interested are you in Townes Van Zandt the person?

I try hard to separate the art from the artist and not celebrate the mythology. I think it’s sad that he died before his time, and that he suffered from alcoholism. It’s sad that we’ve lost so many musicians so young. When I was younger I might have romanticised the 27 club, but now that I’m older it’s like, what a fucking waste. It’s systemic. In America, arts aren’t valued in society so it’s nearly impossible to make a living even if you’re successful. No wonder people turn to drugs and alcohol. I think it’s important that we separate a little bit because I don’t think anybody’s perfect. The work they leave behind is what they gave us.

I struggle to talk about art, I’m bad at Twitter but great at Instagram, I’m a visual person and I feel things very deeply. Every song on this album is so catchy and beautiful and carefully wrought.