It definitely got kind of dark for a while. I mean, there was no breather between becoming an adult and figuring out what you want to do: It was chosen for me, because we had early success with Smith Westerns. After doing Smith Westerns for seven years and then having it stop, you go, "All right, what do I do?" Other than having some records that did critically all right, what do I really have? Because I don't have any money. It's not like I can go live on island for the rest of my life. I'm going to have to continue working.

It also was that thing where, for the rest of my life, is what defines me going to be Smith Westerns? Is that going to be the cool thing for the rest of my life, and I'm always going to be trying to live up to that? Am I always going to be, like, "Oh man, back when I was 22 it was fucking sick!" Or am I going to take that and then do something that I feel like is a stepping stone to something better? Instead of having the Smith Westerns experience be some cool trophy of my life, I decided I'd rather use it to do something more representative of myself as a whole.