TS: I want to maybe close by talking about the instrumental at the end to The Search For Everything.
JM: I wrote this instrumental on Christmas Day in Joshua Tree. I had this RV, I drove it out to Joshua Tree 'cause I had nobody and nothing. I was like — I'm gonna go to Joshua Tree for Christmas, I'm not gonna be sad in an environment that reminds me of a thing I don't have. I'm going out in the middle of nowhere. And I wasn't sure why I went, and once I got there I was kind of upset. It was really windy, I was watching The Big Lebowski in the middle of nowhere. Nobody was there, there were no bonfires.
I thought maybe there'd be bonfires and a world of disenfranchised people meeting together — nothing, it's a parking lot. I woke up Christmas morning, and I had brought my ProTools stuff and my little recording rig, and I just started playing the guitar. And I was staring at Jumbo Rock right out of the window of the RV, and I just sat there and played this melody. And then I forgot about it. And then I opened up my computer one day and played it back and I went, "Oh, this is beautiful." 'Cause I drove away from Joshua Tree going, "Nothing happened this week, this was some sad-sack stuff." And then when I laid it out as a song and played it, I went, "Oh, this is gonna go in the middle of the record."
So when I go back to your criteria, did it make you hurt, or make you feel something or make you move?
It made me — it's a very sweeping, deep thing that's bigger because it doesn't have my vocals on it. There's some other power because it's not me. It's me getting out of the way.