The world has accelerated to the point that, as far as the album as a form, I don't know if it's going to last that much longer.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
We'll only be playing four new songs live, but all the material for the next album is basically finished.
Each album takes two or two-and-a-half years to finish between recording and touring. It's like being with an old boyfriend every single night watching the same things on TV. There is a world out there going on that I'm missing.
By the end of the writing process, which is about 80 songs per album, I look at the material and think, what's going to make a difference in someone's life.
The absolute transformation of everything that we ever thought about music will take place within 10 years, and nothing is going to be able to stop it. I see absolutely no point in pretending that it's not going to happen. I'm fully confident that copyright, for instance, will no longer exist in 10 years.
We've been working on a new album, which is going to come out next spring, which is very different, a change of style for us - it's going to be almost like rock music.
Quite understandably, people think that if there's a six-year gap or whatever, that it's taken me six years to make the album. It's not really like that at all.
A lot of people do talk about the demise of the album, but I still believe that if an artist tries hard to make a great album, people will buy it and listen to it as an album, rather than just a collection of random songs.
Every album that I've attempted, I suppose, has been different - it's bound to be.
Obviously I try to make the best music that I can, but after about two years of making an album, you start to worry: 'Is it going to come out all right? Is it all going to sound churned out?'
I wasn't thinking of the longevity of any of my songs, but I am extremely pleased with the lasting effect.