CHRISTOPHER BOLLEN: You’ve said that the present time is always the best time. Is that because of the chaos of the present?

PETER SCHJELDAHL: It’s because it’s the only moment ever. There is one time: the present. There’s no other time.

BOLLEN: So you feel you write best about the current moment?

SCHJELDAHL: Yes. I also breathe best in the moment. [laughs] But I mean it. People for whom the past and future exist are insane.