is a rock opera, but parts of it seem autobiographical. How did it come about?
I knew I wanted to make a rock opera – I love albums where the songs flow into each other. And I used to be a film student, so I like telling stories. But I’ve found it’s a lot easier to do that with songs than with films. With Albatross, I had two songs already written and then wrote the rest in order of how I wanted the story to go. The biggest challenge was the ending. At first, I wanted it to be this big, dramatic thing, but then I figured it’d be better to fail at the mission and end up in jail. Why involve the ghost of Buddy Holly? I was listening to a Buddy Holly album around the time I started writing the song “Parachute.” I had this weird train of thought that was basically this: Landing with a parachute is as easy as falling in love. [Laughs]. I know, I know. Strange. But it made me think of [Holly’s song] “It’s So Easy.” And that set it up from there, for me. Plus, Buddy Holly is a huge influence for me. He and the Beatles and the Who and the Kinks are my big four. The story
