Official Catch Up Part 2

So, you've got some shows coming up in some exotic places, like Ukraine and Lebanon.
Yeah, I love the fact that even after ten years I'm still going to new countries and singing to new fans. That's pretty cool, I think. I went to Beirut for a show last year, actually and I was literally only in the country for about 8 hours. Hopefully this time I'll be able to stay a little bit longer and have a look around!

Are there more show announcements to come?
Yeah, we've got quite a few TBC dates around the world to add, I think. And I'm really keeping my fingers crossed that we get to play in South America. I seem to have so many fans on Facebook from there, and I'm absolutely desperate to go. I've only managed to be there once before, but I'm always nagging my agent and manager to get me out there again. Hopefully soon.

So, Starlight is the new single, how would you describe it?
Well it's a kind of mid-tempo, '80s electro ballad. I think of it as the kind of song you hear in a club when the play a few slowies and you're maybe snogging someone.

Ah, what they used to call "the erection section".
Hahaha! That's classy! But, yeah, I made it with Richard X and Hannah Robinson. Richard is very, very talented - his production is lush. And I've done loads of stuff with Hannah. I think we've got a very similar approach to top line melodies. We work really well together.

Will there be a video?
Yes, I filmed the last show of the tour I did before Christmas - the one in London. My dad actually filmed it with his crew, so we've been editing that together with some other bits of footage. It's looking good. It should be out within the next week or two.

Did you enjoy the UK tour?
I absolutely loved it. It's something I'd been meaning to do for a long time. And without wanting to blow my own trumpet too much, I think the band, the lighting, the sound and everything was really great. I felt so secure on stage. I'd just like to keep gigging. We're in such a brilliant position as a live band.

You're certainly still working hard.
I don't think I have an alternate setting, really. If anything, the time when I maybe got a bit blase was at the beginning when everything was coming really easily. But now, I adore it and I've got a passion for it and I understand what it all means. For the last five years I've tried to do everything to the best of my ability, rather than coming out thinking, "Oh I wish I'd tried a bit harder".

And you still enjoy it?
Totally. Probably more now than ever.

You've got a duet on the new Feeling album.
Yes, which I sang the other night at their Heaven show. That was a really good night. Roisin Murphy came along and sang her song with Dan. And I really enjoyed doing the song I've done with Dan. I think it's a very classy, atmospheric and, again, slightly sad-sounding song. It's funny because the mood of the song is quite intense, and I have to get myself in a certain frame of mind when I'm singing it.

It also means you're singing a love song to another man while your husband watches.
Yeah! We're just all kind of kinky like that. Hahahahaha! Singing a love song to a gay man while my straight husband looks on. That's the way we roll! Hahaha!

We also hear you've started on album five.
I have made a start, yeah. I've probably written about four or five songs. It's quite a different direction, which has been quite good for my head. There's nothing dancey about it.

Wowser.
Yeah, so I've been working with Ed Harcourt and Bernard Butler. It's all a bit more songwriter-y, stripped back and live sounding. There's not a synth in sight. I think that's why this fourth album is so dancey, because I've always had a bit of an idea that the one after it should be diametrically opposed. So that's where I'm at right now.

That sounds very intriguing.
Mmm. The dream would be to release it with a remix album of the same songs. That would be amazing. But, yeah, everything feels quite exciting at the moment. It's great.

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