James Mercer Quotes

I write the songs, go in and record them, then I listen to everything and decide how it all fits together.

I'm not really gonna stop. We've got so much stuff to do, so many songs we talked about, so many things to record.

I write by myself and then deliver the song. Everybody knows, 'Leave Ester alone when she's in her zone.' Give me a studio and the tracks, and I'll call you when the doctor is done.

The records I make, I'm there from the writing of the first note through the click tracks to the miking of the drums to the editing of everything to the production to the vocals to the artwork.

Putting together a hit record is like putting together a puzzle.

For me, it's always just about playing the song and recording it and giving it what it needs as a song.

I'd say 99 per cent of the time I write on my own, just with my guitar, and then it's trying to figure out what it needs in a production sense.

Making an album is always a puzzle: you start by seeing a lot of different pieces, and they all need to come together into one picture.

Plus, we spend most of our time writing music. Most of the time is spent in the studio in my house.

When you produce an album, you're dealing with it theatrically. It has to have a structure, and the inner response to that is that the ear loves it.

So I'll set a cycle in motion and pop it into record and I'll lay down a drum pattern, a bass line, a keyboard and guitar part, and once the groove is going I launch into the song and sing my song over the top.

When you're making a record, you try to achieve stylistically what fits on you. Like a good old coat, you know what I mean?

I started trying to do my own music at home, and I was like, 'You know what, I can play the guitar, sort of. And I can do these things, sort of. And I can make these crazy noises on my computer, sort of. But I need a ridiculously good drummer. I need someone to help me with string arrangements.'

We wanted to sit down and conceptually work out songs.

When I listen to a record, or when I'm making a record, I listen to everything. I listen to the drums, the bass, the voice, the arrangement. I listen to the whole piece as an ensemble.

A great song has to stand on its own, just singing and playing, and the rest is frosting. But you have to pay attention to the frosting.

I wrote 'Despacito' with my guitar, but where you can tweak a lot is in the production.

Once I've got something that I feel is strong, if I get long enough to think about it, it'll turn into something. I'll start thinking about the drums - what the drums are doing, what the bass is doing. Then, if I can remember it by the time I get to a recording device, it'll turn into a song.

'Nova' was one of the tracks that inspired me to create 'Fade,' which later became 'Faded'. It has a beautiful melody, and the way it progresses throughout the whole track is just amazing!

With me and Timbaland, we would always be at the studio, but working separately. He would be doing his thing with the beats and I would be doing my thing writing and then we would both come together and say 'OK, you add this to it and I'll add that to it.'

Usually, I write the music and am involved in the production.

Not playing guitar on 'World On Fire' gave me additional time to fine-tune lyrics and melodies, which improved the songs in the end. I'm very happy with how it turned out.

As a songwriter, I've always loved to tell stories. But in my band, it was always about what would make sense for a band to put out.

The way Beyonce works, the song is a jigsaw piece and then she will piece various elements.

I have worked with a lot of people, all very different creatives, helping me hone my craft and discover myself as an artist and the record I want to make. It's such an amazing process seeing and hearing the tracks that people could eventually be listening to on my debut album!