Jill, Powell’s Books: I also read somewhere that you listen to music while you write. What was on the soundtrack for In the House?

Matt Bell, author of In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods: I listened to an album called By the Throat. It’s electronic music by Ben Frost. It’s very aggressive in a certain way. If I listen to it with headphones with it turned up, it actually makes me feel uncomfortable in my stomach. It discomfits me at this really high level that music rarely does, and there’s something good about having this way to put yourself in that discomfited position. By rote, almost, I could put that on and it would get me in this place that was productive for writing.

I listened to that the most. I listened to a lot of similar stuff. Tim Hecker, The Antlers. Especially for the first draft. A lot of these would fall out and get replaced, once I burned out on them. I’m really attracted to writing to things that are droning, like Jim O'Rourke albums, like Happy Days and Bad Timing. They keep me in the chair, but they’re also not distracting by being lyrical.

Read more of our interview with Matt Bell: http://powells.us/144hEF1