Some Wisedom Shared

I caught this interview with James Mercer from The Shins. I've posted some of their lyrics previously but this section of the interview really struck me as wise but it certainly whispered some truth.

Pitchfork: I feel like grappling with things you're not in control of speaks to the themes in your lyrics. You're dealing with uncertainty in a format that usually involves certainty.

James: I feel that way about a lot of things in life, I guess. I'm somebody who for a long time was unhappy because I was searching for some logic, some kind of system of logic that would apply to my life and I would therefore understand why I was unable to find the normalcy that I for some reason craved. And I think that through my 20s I began to be comfortable with who I was, and comfortable with the fact that sense is something that your brain tries to apply, and doesn't necessarily exist. I guess it's as if your brain is trying to simplify things to allow it to navigate the complexity of what's going on around it. So I've become a lot happier because I now allow for the total upheaval of my understanding. My hope is to remain open-minded and never really allow myself to be certain. And I'm kind of, maybe, self-righteous about it too, because I look around the world and I see people killing each other over things that I think are so ridiculously juvenile. Frankly, belief in any of that shit puts you in a category of people I won't take seriously anyway. And to kill each other over it, I don't know, it makes me want to laugh and it makes me want to cry.



And then there's also this because it helped me understand my own approach to writing (same interview):

"It's funny, too, because sometimes the exact reason you began writing a song is the thing that needs to be dropped. I've found that several times, and it's really difficult to allow yourself to do that. But there are those occasions where everything else you added actually adds up to something that implies the main thing, but it's much more artistic if that thing you thought was so crucial is actually gone."

For those interested, the complete interview is here.