I know you didn't stay where you grew up, but why is there no Texan techno sound or a Houston house vibe? Or is that why you've been placed on God's green earth - to right that wrong? Not so sure exactly. I left Texas at the tender age of 16, and wasn't much into the electronic music scene of the South then, and not really now, either. I'm assuming like most other cities, varying geographical and social elements contribute to varying sounds developing.

Yes, something remains. Especially as there's so much twitchy, rootsy stuff within your arrangements. What does being raised in Texas mean to your sound? I think it's given me a more open mind to folk and blues music. I'm heavily influenced by Texas artists like Lightnin' Hopkins. Texas is a special place. Big and proud. I wouldn't be who I am if I wasn't born in Texas.

I know you're a folk enthusiast. Who do you love and why? Townes Van Zandt and John Prine are my favorites. They both have ways of mixing sadness and beauty in their music; Townes more so than others. He was such a gentle soul, but his demons always lurked in the music.

How did you happen on to electronic music anyway - its minimalist mien in particular? I've always had affection toward synthetic music, ever since I was a kid. I think I liked the idea of futurism in music. It was all so foreign to me. Where folk is about an actual life, electronic is about a non-existent alternate life. Not always, but sometimes. There have been many others before me. Germans in the '90s, Rob Hood and Dan Bell before them, and the way I see it, Terry Reilly and Steve Reich in the '60s before anyone else.

Hands Up for Detroit - what does that conjure? Ahh. My first record. Good times. Excitement. Youth. Naiveté.

How has the microhouse scene changed - for better or worse, even though it's pretty much you É and, like, one other guy? That's not so true. There are hundreds of other artists who make "minimal" music. In my opinion, we're replacing techno. Minimal music to me now is simply detailed and eccentric techno music.

Between Heaven and Asa you seem to have turned the syn-orchestration more intimate. And you joined in with a few mates to make a band. Is there something more physicalized about your sound as you get older? I really do think I always want to change my sound. I wanted the live band to represent the album on stage and be more of an energetic visual and audio assault for the audience. It's become more engaging to see, and be a part of. Without them, I would feel lackluster and as if something was missing.

Certainly the new record's overall sound is more aggressively ebullient. Is this something from within or without? Organic or contrived? It's certainly more from emotions, yes, than my other stuff É the ambiguous patterns of thought in my head. I write from the subconscious.

I hear Holger Czukay and David Byrne/Brian Eno vibes within Asa Breed. What's the connection? Have you been listening a lot? I share methods of looping with these guys. All of our music - theirs, mine - is very repetitive but poppy at the same time. "Boat-Woman-Song" by Holger Czukay is one of my favorites right now, but I found it after my album was completed.

"Shy," "Give Me More," and "Midnight Lovers" - there's something romantic going on; or at least earnest in terms of relationships, as is "Don and Sherri." What were you looking to do? Get on a humanist tip? I offer no answers, only ideas [laughs]. I culturally observe and report, but put forth no sense of redemption or salvation. My songs are about human relationships, but not necessarily my own. Besides, "Deserter" is about a banana split ice cream sundae.

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