Quotes

People can be quite cynical. 'The Kills are too cool.' There's been an on-and-off relationship with the music press that loves us and then hates us then loves us again. I don't think any kind of press is reliable.

I'm inspired by being in a different town every day - all the people I meet, all the things I see. There's no way of compartmentalizing everything in my head; whatever I'm taking in is coming out in some way. I think I love painting so much because, for me, it's so fast. There's not too much thought in these paintings.

I love being on stage more than anything, and I think that's what comes across. I think the most honest representation of any music is to play it right there in front of people. It's a moment - it's all one of a kind, every little part of it. There's no repeat.

There has always been a feeling with people that they love my singing but not always the choice of material.

I have always loved a hard-faced girl. I get that Alison Goldfrapp isn't easy, and I like her belligerence. She's deeply sexy and controlled, like a Strict Machine, and it seems to wind the b'jesus out of the women I know. On the outside, I watch and smile and will her on like a twisted silent maiden aunt in the dark corner.

The money has always been wasted on me. I don't care for beautiful things, funnily enough. I am my father's daughter. The things that excite me are the smell of a wood-burning stove, uncultivated fields. My house is decaying and falling to pieces. It's not had the love it deserves over twenty years.

I love being middle-aged in general. I'm more at peace with myself now. I still have tormented times, but they are few and far between. You don't feel you have to be the centre of your world when you get older. Becoming a mother had been a turning point which stopped me from being the centre of my world.

In a recession, people want to be told for two hours that everything is going to be OK. They want to escape from their humdrum or painful reality into a feel-good drama, or a love story that transcends their daily life.

I guess the first big name I worked with was Sissy Spacek, and that was really interesting just because she's so incredible and I learned so much from just watching her. But she's also so unassuming that I loved working with her. It wasn't like working with a star, it was Sissy. Not a big deal.

There's something about a long, high-waisted skirt and little, buttoned blouse that I really love.

Whether it's a photograph or a piece of clothing, a leather bag or a film, I tend to gravitate towards simple, beautifully made, quietly lovely things. They make me happy.

I just love the holidays so much.

I'm a big cinephile. Love, love, love films.

I do love to dance, and that's fun, but I will never stop writing my quiet, sensitive songs.

I love the clean elegance of cream and black.

A boy I adored when I was 19 gave me the 'Emigrante' album by Orishas. Definitely not my normal taste, but I still kind of love it.

I grew up listening to a lot of classic jazz, and stuff like The Beatles, and old Motown stuff, and a lot of classical music. I just loved all of that.

I love Bright Eyes - I absolutely love him.

I love doing free shows because then anyone can come.

There are two things I love about Temescal. One is the sense of space that you get when you get to the top. You can see for ages. You can see the ocean spread out before you, but you also feel like you're in the mountains. And second is the smell of it, which I love most when I've been traveling a long time.

I have a huge love for architecture.

The song 'Almost Lover' is very important to me, because when I wrote it, I threw everything away. That kind of set the bar as a writer, as a singer, as a person.

I would love to show young girls that you can be complex, and that you don't have to part ways with your femininity in order to be taken seriously. But it does take more strength if you're going to be feminine, because people are going to underestimate you. I struggled with that when I was growing up.

I love watching people.

I don't love my speaking voice, frequently - but I think that we need music, and when a person sings, those kind of vibrations go through your body, it's amplified in the room. It goes through everyone else's body, too.