Q: I’ve read somewhere that you do not consider yourself a songwriter, but rather someone that structures music and sounds, performing the orchestration of the pieces, sort of orthogonal to the whole natural songwriting process. Can you elaborate on where you see your strengths and weaknesses in that domain?
Alan: Well, that’s pretty much it. For me, it’s exciting to have a vocal melody, a great voice, and a set of lyrics to work with. From there, I think I can build a piece of music which can illustrate what the song’s all about by, firstly, creating an atmosphere. Once that feels right, the rest of the process is structural, rather like finishing a complicated jigsaw, and I gradually fit all the elements together and refine the sound.














