Does working with minor-key music become a kind of catharsis?
The great Serge Gainsbourg once said that if you take a photograph of the sky on a really beautiful day when the weather is really nice, you look at that photograph and it’s just nothing. There’s not really a story to tell. But if you take a photograph of the sky when it’s storming, there’s going to be a very interesting, even beautiful photograph, because there’s so much more going on. I’m sure when he said that, he meant it as a metaphor for music and songwriting. That’s something I already adhered to before I ever heard that quote. I find it to be more interesting – there’s more complexity and more to explore there on those black keys, for some reason. It’s probably attached to the same line of thinking that explains why there’s always bad news on the front page of the newspaper. It’s the way people are. We’re drawn to that because it gives us more to think about. Happy stuff is so completely uncomplicated. Maybe just with the way my brain works, for better or for worse, I need some
