It sounds like you caught some magic spontaneously during these sessions. The one specifically is "It's Not Supposed to Be That Way‚" which was a bedroom demo recording and your roommate Angel did some harmony vocals….
Yeah‚ Angel came and sang on that one. But exactly‚ a few months later I still had those tapes‚ and when we got the space to do all the proper recording‚ I listened back to that one and it became clear immediately and I thought‚ I'm just going to keep this. I think there's something really special about this.

Right‚ don't mess with it. [laughter]
Exactly.
Did you have other moments like that during the session‚ like where it only took one take to know you had it?
Constantly‚ yeah. Most everything on there is a one-take deal throughout the record. Really surprising performances‚ constantly‚ for everyone throughout the whole recording. We were really surprising ourselves throughout the session and really nailing these takes. It was a great experience‚ and everyone was playing at their top level.
Yeah‚ that comes across on the album.
We didn't want to labor over a lot it too much. The idea was to keep it as spontaneous and fresh as possible‚ and not have too many takes.
Do you find that works best with a lot of your material?
Yeah‚ sometimes. Phosphorescent is a very loose thing in terms of letting things fall where they do. With that said‚ it's always different. It's whatever is best for the song. Sometimes it needs that energy and other times it's good to get in there and obsess over it a bit and get a little polishing and rub everything in real good. But it's completely case by case.
What do you take away from this experience‚ playing and recording these songs?
Well‚ I'm real proud of the record. I'm really glad that it's out there. And I'm already working on the next proper Phosphorescent album. I'm just going to dig into these songs and keep going.
What kind of things are going on now with your writing?
I'd say most of the writing at this point is done. Some songs are still waiting on a verse or two. But we have this recording space -- where we made the To Willie record -- which is really nice. I've never had a space to work in more than once; I've always moved around. So‚ it's nice to be able to play around with sound in this space. Then we're going to go on tour and come back and finish the record.
So‚ one last thing: have you met Willie yet?
No‚ I have not.
You think you will now? [laughs]
Well‚ I sent him the record. I haven't heard anything from that camp‚ but I'd be super stoked if he heard it.
I think he likes to invite people on to his bus. [laughter]
I would gladly accept that invitation.
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