Did you debate how honest to be on this record—not least because your ex-boyfriend was in the room as a collaborator?

There were times when I would wonder if I was being too earnest. It was certainly a little scary. I would just listen to a part or something and think, Can I do this? Is this OK? I didn’t feel uncomfortable that Dave was in the room, necessarily, because a couple of my songs about him were pretty positive and amicable, and so much time had already gone by that I just switched it off in my mind. We were there and we were making it, so I just went with it.

__“Do You Believe” kinda broke my heart, especially that line: “How’s playing it safe working out for you?” __

Yeah, that was one where I was like, Is this too much? But that’s how I was feeling at that time. It was not fun.

It echoes some moments in the recent Dirty Projectors album where Dave confesses to being withholding and dismissive. Are you steeling yourself for listeners and fans of the band to try to weave these narratives together, find the thematic parallels, understand the factors of your breakup?

What Dave has done wasn’t my choice. He has really nothing to do with my album, ultimately. I just want to put my record out, and it’s my first album; it’s been a lifelong dream, and a very intense journey for me as a person. I’m not thinking about that other stuff.

__“No Coffee” has such a breeziness musically that belies such rough subject matter. You’re singing about what can be the toughest moment of all, when love seems at stake, when there’s such uncertainty. And you have a bit of a shrug in your delivery. __

I mean, the first bits of that song I wrote singing to myself when I’d spent a week crying and barely eating. So it definitely came at a very tough time, but I had a feeling of determination, too. The heartbreak was pretty shocking and jarring, and I guess that determination was just denial. But the uplifting tone of it, in a way, was me believing that I was gonna overcome it and reverse it.

The last track, “Kindness,” feels like catharsis with those big ocean sounds fading out at the end. Did you find a sense of peace in making this album?

Absolutely. After about a decade of playing in bands and touring all over and living with a lot of other people on a regular basis, this was the first time in my adult life that’d I've had such a long period of time to just be with myself. There was a lot in there that I had to dig out. Coming to L.A. and deciding to do this thing was like, “You’re just coming face to face with yourself. No one is there to tell you or answer you, so just be quiet with your thoughts and with yourself.”

What’s the most L.A. thing you’ve done since moving there?

Something really wild happened, actually, though I’m not sure if it’s specifically L.A. My boyfriend and I were in a cab, and he got a little carsick, so we got out. We stumbled into this karaoke barbecue place outside of a Filipino seafood market, and this guy was singing “Lyin’ Eyes” by the Eagles, which is a song that I’ve been hearing since I was about 6 years old. So I started singing along with him and, all of a sudden, we were hanging out with this group of people singing karaoke and eating crazy seafood skewers. It was amazing.

They told us to go into the market and buy these duck eggs and we were like, “Sure, we'll try anything.” The woman who sold them was looking at us really funny, though, and kept saying, “Are you sure?” We were like, “Yeah, they’re just eggs, right? What’s the deal?” It turns out they were partially incubated eggs. It’s a delicacy. It was almost like eating an egg and an oyster at the same time; there were a lot of textures going on. It was a trip.

Do you see your future as a solo artist now? Do you want to rejoin a band?

I really like playing with people. I guess everything is on the table, you know? But I would like to continue making solo music. I just want to make more.