I would still describe China as a vast, invigorating puzzle that will never make sense to my western upbringing.

In China, I realized that if you visit often enough and learn the language, you will be assimilated, but you'll still be kept at arm's length; you'll always be looked on as a foreigner.

I had no intention of becoming a performer, and yet under miraculous circumstances I was brought into the music industry fold. If divine powers hadn't intervened, I'd still be living in China working in some area of Sino-American comparative law.

Whenever I visited China in the past, the relationships always felt superficial; there was no time where I felt those moments of conflict and delight that make you feel close to another person. But since I started touring there in 2004, I would always collaborate with local musicians, and that opened up a new level of intimacy.

China was the first time I truly felt like an outsider. I fell in love with the process of trying to become intimate with the culture.

I would say I've always lived creativity, but now I - I do it with an intention that's got a completely different power.