When you sit down at the piano to work on a song, do you go to a melodic place that’s different from when you write on a guitar?
“Well, see, I’ve always chopped and changed between the two. Obviously, I travel with a guitar because it’s just easier to check it into planes and what not. But I do like to write on both, and what happens is, if I’ve written something on one instrument I’ll play it on the other just to see if it gives me a different feel.
“I’ve always found the piano to be comfortable. You can sit at it, it’s a piece of furniture, and you can even put a computer on top of it and write down lyrics as you go. I’ll bring in the guitar to give something a bit more tempo. A song like Bonfire Heart has the tempo it does because of the guitar.”
Heart To Heart harkens back to ‘80s pop-rock – which is not a bad thing. The main guitar riff has a cool, retro feel.
“Yeah, well, I’m embarrassed to say that I’m probably an ‘80s child, aren’t I? [Laughs] I can’t escape that as a sound, which is probably why I talk about nostalgia – you can’t get away from where you come from. I like hearing the sound of the past.
“You kind of hit the nail on the head, though, because in the lyrics I say, ‘Sometimes I don’t know where I stand, you make me feel like I’m a boy and not a man.’ The whole thing is about how a girl makes you feel like a teenager again.”