Zach Condon on songwriting (Interview via SF Weekly)

• Ben Westhoff:  You said last year that you felt lyric writing was almost a chore. Do you still feel that way?
• Zach Condon:  No, I’m kind of excited about it now, that I can write these stories, and these characters, and have these locations in my mind. But still, when I listen to music I never listen to lyrics until I’ve gotten extremely used to the song. I always just listen to melody first. My dad used to make fun of me because I couldn’t memorize Beach Boys songs. Lyrics are still not the same joy for me as writing a melody.
• ...
• Ben Westhoff:  Writers are often taught to ‘Write what you know.’ Do you feel like your songwriting is kind of the antithesis of that?
• Zach Condon:  Yeah. That’s the idea. I think there’s something interesting…to just run with a fantasy of something, like, writing about a place you’ve never been to, and acting like you’re a character from there, and you’re part of that place. Even if you’re totally off, you’ve still invented something very fresh. For me, it’s not really an experiment, it’s the way I work.

Source: blogs.sfweekly.com

Notes