Time & Perspective Quote by Leo Kottke

Kottke’s line has the offhand honesty of a musician refusing the myth of the solitary genius. He’s not pretending that creativity arrives as lightning; he’s admitting it’s seasonal, social, and frankly a little moody. “It depends on the time of the year” sounds like small talk until you hear the working truth inside it: energy changes, routines shift, the body reacts to light and weather, and so does the music. Inspiration isn’t a permanent personality trait. It’s a condition.

Then he slips in the real lever: “who I’ve been talking to.” That’s the subtext most artists polish out for the press. Conversations leave residue. A mentor’s skepticism, a friend’s enthusiasm, a stranger’s story - these things quietly tune the instrument before you ever hit record. Kottke frames his process less as self-expression than as self-exposure: the studio becomes a place where other people’s presence, even indirect, can enter the work.

“I try to put people in the studio I like” is both charming and strategic. It’s not just about comfort; it’s about curating a psychological environment where risk feels survivable. Studios are pressure cookers: expensive, time-bound, full of judgment (engineers, producers, future listeners). Liking the people in the room is a way to lower the stakes so the music can get weird, tender, or imperfect - the stuff that actually sounds alive.

In a culture that fetishizes “vibes,” Kottke gives the practical version: vibes are just relationships, and they shape the take.