What about Melora Creager? Her lyrics meld history, weirdness, and character studies. She always creates narratives and humanizes events by writing her songs from the perspective of someone living them. Some of it seems random, but the world she creates through her music feels distinct and vivid. It's like there's more under the surface.
From
Coilhouse: "I just read that Jane Eyre was Charlotte Bronte’s way of speaking her mind, of answering every injustice about which she had kept her mouth closed. I love that and relate to it. Songs or song characters are places for me to work out my issues. I don’t write about my private life openly, but I’m human and an artist, so it will always be my lens it’s through. I want to recognize and examine feelings of loneliness, victimhood, unattractiveness. I also make what I want to entertain myself."
From
UWire:"I do whatever is interesting to me, and if I was doing some kind of writing about my feelings and my life, I would think that is too self-indulgent rather than when I write about characters. My psychology is still in there, and things come out. But it’s more subtle, and I think it’s interesting."
From
Magnet Magazine: "I get inspired by how people have remained basically the same emotionally over vast amounts of time. I like to describe details and to share weird knowledge with people through music. It’s like a note from me to you."
This interview at Rumpus is a bit more light-hearted and whimsical.