Jonathan Russell (The Head and the Heart)

"I like to have structure in my songwriting process in order to let chaos rule."

Jonathan Russell of The Head and the Heart loves structure. It helps him in his domestic life: he often finds missing bridges in his songs when he’s cleaning the house, for example. “I love order,” Russell told me. “Clean kitchen, happy brain.” And he loves using lists to make his day easier. When I asked Russell what kind of writing he does outside of songwriting, his immediate response was simple: “I’m a listmaker."

Russell likes structure in his songwriting process too, but not for reasons you might expect. It lets him be chaotic. “Structure lets the chaos loose,” he told me. “As long as I have boundaries set up, I will allow myself to play like a five year old.”  And Russell often gets his best writing done, he says, “When I become aware that I’m anxious.”

The Head and the Heart's latest album, out April 29, is called "Every Shade of Blue."