Mac DeMarco Quotes

I think the best mood for writing is a heavy feeling that's a little bit removed from you. Sometimes I feel very self-indulgent and bratty and ungrateful, and no good music comes out of that. But sometimes I can be really sad or have an excess of feeling yet somehow be able to see the big picture more.

I make the necessary "corrections" if I find myself leaning too far in one direction.

I am deeply in tune with my heart and core, and it's made me a better writer, artist, and most of all woman. It's made me more myself.

Anybody who dedicates himself to exploring the human condition, there's always a detached eye that's watching. In any situation, a little part of me is observing it, to see if there are any raw materials to create something else later.

Balance in life is the key, as Aristotle taught us. Nobody likes a naive Pollyanna, but neither do we like to be around people who are constantly complaining and finding fault.

Once you take yourself too seriously the art will suffer.

I used to be on the kitchen floor, crying, wasted and thinking of lyrics. That was the only way I could create - as a tortured artist. I've learned that you can be stable and taking care of yourself and still create beautiful work.

A lot of me is very up, and you have to have light and shade. They are both important and you have to be able to balance them. You have to admit that sadness is part of you and that it enriches you. I use it in my work.

For writers and artists, it's always a balancing act between wanting to be the center of attention and wanting to be invisible and watch what's going on.

As a songwriter I hate this whole, 'If it's a sad song, it has to sound like a sad song thing.' And that goes all the way back to my days with the Format. I'm an insane narcissist, so if I have to get something off my chest, I'll get something off my chest.

The one happiness is to shut one's door upon a little room, with a table before one, and to create; to create life in that isolation from life.

It's a very hard thing for all of us to accept ourselves at all the different stages - the horrible side, the wonderful side, the adorable side - and who you are as a grownup. And then to bring what you learned as a child to that grownup: that is the magic of creativity.

My priorities are: I need to be good; I need to be well within for my children to be well within; and then the creative process flows, organically and smoothly. I'm not looking to experience what I went through in the 'Livin' La Vida Loca' days again.

Those artists who say that somehow therapy or analysis will thwart their creativity are completely misinformed. It's absolutely the opposite: it opens closed doors.

A lot of times, I'm singing things that are observational and am definitely including myself.

Joni Mitchell's someone who has tried to make sense of her own world, sometimes painfully, through song.

Coming off 'Reflection,' what we really wanted to do was be more vulnerable.

Even though there is randomness and improvisation in my music, I want to have some concrete idea that I can hold onto.

Writers - human. I shudder to think how I must sometimes appear to others.

I do write songs about love but I don't really know love that well.

One of life's quiet excitements is to stand somewhat apart from yourself and watch yourself softly becoming the author of something beautiful even if it is only a floating ash.

Self awareness allows you to self-correct.

Having children made me go down a road of serious introspection and self-examination. I think it's informed and hopefully enhanced my creativity.

I think that, when you're writing your songs, there's always a debate about whether, is that you in the song? Is it not you in the song?

I love when people will say, "Oh, my songs are my children." I understand that, but I'm also not afraid to kill my kids. I know when the time has come to throw it in the trash can. With a child you've got to go to therapy and put it in daycare and buy it birthday presents. With a song, you can shove it in a dark closet and tell it you'll be there when you're ready.