Nick Africano: You're right. The ideas and themes behind this album started before I knew it would turn into an album, in 2005 when I wrote my final thesis paper in undergraduate school for an independent project on Federico García Lorca called, "The Poetics of Contradiction." I used the idea of contradiction as a lens through which to read and interpret some of his poetry. In 2009, a dear friend brought me a small journal back as a gift from Spain with a drawing by Francisco de Goya on the cover -- "el toro mariposa," or "the butterfly bull". The drawing gave me chills. I've never felt so close to an image before. To me, it was a metaphor and symbol of so many different things I'd experienced in my life, and of things I had explored in literature -- but so much more immediate. An embodiment of contradiction.

I started writing one word at a time on each page, a single word on a single page. And that's where the album truly was born -- out of those words in the notebook. The first two I wrote were "cowboy" and "bowtie" and those are the first two words one hears on the record. After that, it took me two years to write the rest of the songs, record them, re-record them, and get it to where it is now.

NA: When I set out to work on the album after having the initial idea, I let the songs dictate its course and time frame. In a time where things are so fast, I wanted to be patient. That was one of the hardest parts. But there can be a sense of liberty in limitation. Limiting oneself to a framework. It gave me direction.

NA: I often start with prose, or just series of words, and then shift to lyric, or sometimes it will happen naturally in lyric.

NA: This image to me is my champion of possibility and the notion of contradiction in an image. I remember feeling that the impossible had happened when my mother passed away. That's a scary thought -- that the impossible can happen. But it can also be incredibly liberating and beautiful. That anything is possible.

NA: My mom listened to a lot of old R&B and blues, and my dad gave me a Sam Cooke CD at a young age. I still listen to Sam Cooke all the time. Then, in college, I really immersed myself in everything Stax Records. That was a good time.

NA: Thievery! Just kidding. I stole many of the lyrics from my now fiancee, Misty Boyce. She left me alone in her apartment and some of these words were on her piano, and I added my own, added music, and made a song. I thought it fit. It explores how we really sometimes want help, but still let ourselves hurt ourselves. How we let something get to the point of fire before asking for water.

NA: I hope it inspires people to feel a sense of joy and hope alongside what can be painful or sad. And I hope it's an album people will want to return to and listen again.

NA: In July I'm beginning to record the first of a series of three albums, an EP called Silver. All of the songs on Silver are resonator guitar driven.

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