Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold and his longtime on/off girlfriend are attempting to patch up their romance after she dumped him as he struggled to complete the band's new album.
The singer/songwriter accepts he became "hard to be around" after deciding to scrap his band's new album and start all over again in 2009 - and his relationship with girlfriend Olivia suffered.
He tells Rolling Stone magazine, "I was f**king up in terms of being present. She'd say, 'What are you thinking about?' and I'd be like, 'The third lyric of...' I was self-obsessed, and it didn't leave a lot of mental space for her."
But the couple's split drove the folk star to make sure he and his band recorded the best album they could.
He adds, "From then on, I needed the record to be perfect. I was like, 'If this is going to have affected all these other things in a crappy way, it needs to be f**king awesome.'"
The result, Helplessness Blues, has helped Pecknold win back his ex.
He reveals, "She said, 'If this is why (we broke up)... then it was worth it.'"
The couple is now hoping to set up home in Portland, Oregon, where the singer has just leased a house