Quotes from James Vincent McMorrow

My favorite records are not easy - they're not records that reveal everything to you the first time out.

With music, it feels natural that, in my head, I can pull things apart and then put them back together very quickly.

Sometimes my hands they don't feel like my own; I need someone to love, I need someone to hold.

My mum was a big fan of E.L.O. and Elvis Costello. She used to play that, consistently, all the time when we were kids. And my dad, he would claim to be a singer... You know, he loves singing, and he used to sing a lot when he was a kid and at parties and stuff like that. So I come from a very party-musical family.

My love of R&B and hip-hop has influenced my life not even as a musician, but generally in terms of growing up and looking to America as an inspiration.

I've traveled quite a lot and become a coffee nut.

My first record was made in Termonfeckin, which is a small town on the north-east coast of Ireland. I had been in London, but it didn't click. So, at home, I didn't think about making something, just whether something could be made. There was no grand plan.

More often than not, changes had to be made in order for a song to make sense, and by the end of it, it would just be something different. Lyrically, I am usually fairly confused until something is finished, and then it makes perfect sense to me.

When I first saw Drake, I thought I was never going to like him based on the person that I saw on T.V. He's just so full on, and he's got the ladies' man thing, which isn't necessarily something that would resonate with me.

When I started out making music I thought it was about thrills and adding layers, but I realized I want to focus on saying the most with the least.

I have no interest in making music that's built for an antique shop.

I just essentially stayed at home for three years and just learned to play as many instruments as I could and listened to as many singers as I could. Like, when I got to about 19/20, I started listening to singers. I normally just listened to bands. Now I listen to a lot of old singers, not a lot of new stuff.

I'm very ambitious, musically - I want to create great things, not mediocre work.

I think sitting in the car with your parents and listening to music is an essential to growing up.

You get one chance to make an impression and coasting through is a disservice.

I was never a 'sit down with a notepad and write lyrics' kind of person.

Food in Dublin has gotten immeasurably better than it was. When I was a kid, there weren't a lot of options. Now you're overwhelmed with options.