Robyn Hitchcock has been writing surreal, catchy, muscular, gentle, haunting, melodic pop rock songs from his late-'70s/early '80s work with the Soft Boys through his excellent new album, Shufflemania! He still sounds young yet digs into aging and mortality in his music and this conversation. He also discusses whether he absorbs or echoes such influences as Syd Barrett and John Lennon, how his collaboration with XTC's Andy Partridge worked, what his live-performance pet peeve is and whether inspiration more often finds him or forces him to seek it out. Hitchcock remains as inventive, imaginative and thoughtful as they come.