The key word in this song is "find" because, "finding someone affable" and "knowing someone affable" are different. If you are finding someone affable they may not be affable(friendly, personable) and the "hours that slip away" are the learned result that someone is a completely different person that whom they perceived.
"Fake conversations on a nonexistent telephone"
This whole thing also seems like an internal conversation of thought.
I may be reading way too into this because Andrew Bird tends to have an inventive way of string together words and phrase to create narrative.
The key word in this song is "find" because, "finding someone affable" and "knowing someone affable" are different. If you are finding someone affable they may not be affable(friendly, personable) and the "hours that slip away" are the learned result that someone is a completely different person that whom they perceived.
"Fake conversations on a nonexistent telephone"
This whole thing also seems like an internal conversation of thought.
I may be reading way too into this because Andrew Bird tends to have an inventive way of string together words and phrase to create narrative.