Keren Ann on Her Latest Album Nolita

I haven’t met people who aren’t constantly searching for love. But [as a musician] you’re also constantly searching to be left alone, to do what you have to do. You want the love, you want to know it’s there when you need it, but you want to know that the love is still there if you need to be on your own. And you can’t love fully if you can’t do what you love doing.

Tell me about the relationship you have with your audience, on stage.

I just had this conversation with my manager the other day, and he told me that sometimes there could be wall between us. It was the worst thing that anybody ever told me, but I’m happy he did.

Do you feel that way at the time?

No, not at all. I feel very privileged. I love the relationship I have with [my audience]. I like that they’re a part of the ingredients that make the show. In the end, it’s all about them because they’ve come to see you play. It’s like having a date at night with so many people. I feel a real closeness with my audience—they allow me to be cranky, or sassy, or in a bad mood if I had a bad day, as long as I’m there with them.

Sounds like the traits of a good relationship.

It is. Closeness inspires the best relationships, and also the most dangerous. Some couples are very close, but they’re against everyone else. But I do have this with my audience. They’re with me. If someone writes something in the press, they’ll say, “How the hell could they write this!” That’s the closeness I’m talking about. It’s the Bonnie and Clyde complicity. They’re my partners in crime for the night.