Paolo Nutini on ‘writing ideas’ as he reveals his return album, Last Night In The Bittersweet

Information technology’Southward Glastonbury’south mysterious expanse where celebs party away from the spotlight.

The secret Rabbit Hole is the festival’s must-notice area where Noel Gallagher, Niall Horan and in the past even Prince Harry take been spotted having a good time.

5

five

And it’s in this Alice In Wonderland-themed area where Paolo Nutini is enjoying a post-performance beer and is gear up to talk about his return and his career-best fourth anthology, Last Night In The Bloodshot.

Information technology’s been a few hours since he played an unannounced gig at the easier-to-find Rabbit Hole Bar. In that location, fans climbed up tent poles to get a glimpse of the enigmatic Scottish singer, who has been away since his third anthology Caustic Love topped the charts and became one of 2014’s biggest-selling albums.

He says: “Me and my band toured for a good couple of years after the terminal album was released. After that I’ll go and buy a i-way ticket to see places that I need to see and sometimes that trip volition exist a weekend and other times that will exist 3 months or more than. I’m lucky to be able to take that time and simply see what happens. I don’t really recall too much about information technology.”

Nutini finds lots of his inspiration for songs while travelling. This fourth dimension he visited New York and Mexico following the terminate of a relationship which inspired new single Acrid Optics.

He says: “I pull it in from my perspective — it’s a personal song just I wind other stories in likewise. There was a big catamenia of travelling and dealing with life and all the time I was writing.

“I’one thousand ever writing ideas. Fifty-fifty if it’south simply the start of a song, I record the ideas. I squirrel them abroad and I’m happy with that way of working. I didn’t experience like I was wasting time, even though you can fence that I was,” he laughs.

Nutini says it is only when he gets a certain feeling about a number of songs that he tin can starting time thinking virtually putting them together equally an album.

He says: “It’s one thing writing a bunch of songs, but that’south not an anthology. An album has to hang together to create a little story or makes some kind of point and somewhen I’ve thought we are almost at that place, at present’south the time, how do nosotros brand this an album?”

The 35-yr-one-time is a reluctant pop star who is in the business for the music rather than the trappings that come with success. He is not interested in selling himself as a make or in endless promotion.
But that doesn’t mean Nutini is hard either — far from it. He’s the aforementioned honest and soulful personality that shines through in his songs.

He says: “I exercise take moments of insecurity and anxiety about what people may think. It’s hard, as I’yard quite a private person so all of a sudden, there’southward this juxtaposition of going back into the virtually public theatre.

‘Build momentum’

“There’s no dubiety most it, common sense would say you tin can build momentum in a better way than I do. And who knows what kind of difference that would make? Only y’all tin can only do it the way that you do it. And this is my way.”

Nutini is immensely proud of his new album, and rightly so. Last Night In The Bittersweet shows off just how brilliant a songwriter Nutini is. At 16 tracks long, it could exist called a double anthology and information technology’s Nutini at his very best.

Unconstrained past genre, he is able to get wherever his creativity takes him. Even Quentin Tarantino gets a credit on anthology opener Afterneath, for Nutini’s sample from his 1993 cult film Truthful Romance.

Tracks similar Radio, the hypnotic Neu!-sounding Lose It, Children Of The Stars, Shine A Light, Eye Filled Upward and Nutini’s personal favourite, the Robert Wyatt-sounding Accept Me Accept Mine are diverse in style and elevated by his extraordinary vocalism.

“I love Robert Wyatt and I bought this massive Soft Machine vinyl box set and sat and listened to information technology all,” he says. “It got me into looking into more Robert Wyatt stuff. He has got a voice that is simply, well . . . I knew Shipbuilding but I didn’t know information technology was an Elvis Costello encompass until adequately recently.”

New single Acid Eyes is already a fan favourite following Nutini’due south recent live shows and his operation of the song in the BBC’due south Glastonbury studio.

Honestly, it’s a very human matter to feel anxious. I envy people who call up they’ve got it all sussed and under command.

Paolo Nutini

And it was a vocal he wrote with Haim in mind. He explains: “I wrote that in my living room. I wanted to try and write a song that maybe Danielle from the Haim girls would sing with me. There’s the two vocals, the high and the low, which I figured was a duet. Everybody said why don’t I ask them to do it but I thought, ‘What if they say no?’. And then I didn’t.

“I met them for the first time when we were making the Caustic Love anthology. We worked with producer Dave Sardy, who brought in Blake Mills to play guitar. At the time his girlfriend was Danielle Haim and she swung by.

“So final time we played Glastonbury, Haim were backstage when we played The Other Phase and we ended up having a few drinks with them. They were actually nice to me and my friends and they are great. And maybe if they hear of this . . . ”

Information technology seems incongruous that Nutini with his talent and charisma would exist shy near asking Haim to sing on such a standout song. He replies: “Honestly, it’south a very human thing to feel broken-hearted. I envy people who think they’ve got it all sussed and under control.

“That’s why I beloved Liam,” he says of the erstwhile Oasis star who he recently supported at Knebworth. “He is 1 of those people who has that confidence in the manner he talks and acts. He’southward amazing.”

‘I’ve made amazing friends through music’

Another huge influence on Nutini is American vocalist-songwriter Sixto Rodriguez, known as Rodriguez, whose career revival was told in the Oscar-winning documentary Searching For Sugar Man. Nutini says meeting him for the first time at the Byron Bay Blues festival in 2007 in Australia was something he’ll never forget.

“Rodriguez was a guy that I just could only dream about what he was like. To me, he was this shamanistic Mayan, my hero and one 24-hour interval nosotros met. I give thanks the crazy universe that happened.

“Then afterwards that, we became friends, nosotros played music together and nosotros spent nights together smoking joints. And this is a guy who is 40 years older than me. I just feel that’s my brain. With music, age doesn’t really equate. Information technology brings people together in a way that ten or 20 years’ difference doesn’t matter. I’ve made some amazing friends through music.”

Nutini cites Devo, Fats Domino and Wire as music he has been listening to. He says: “My Girl Josephine and Devo’south Gates Of Steel are my morning songs.

“Then Krisma’s C-Rock from the album Chinese Restaurant is a masterpiece and that influences Lose It on my anthology. Recollect of the mundane weather in Glasgow, the grey skies, then with your headphones at the right level, playing C-Stone, you’re in the cosmos. It’s bloody powerful music.” Lose Information technology has been one of Nutini’southward favourite new songs to play live.

Debuting it at his recent run of 100 Club shows — where Lewis Capaldi, Peter Capaldi, Sam Fender, footballer Kieran Tierney and Tom Odell were all in the audience — fans compared him to Iggy Pop and Air conditioning/DC’due south Brian Johnson, which may come equally a surprise to people who don’t know Nutini’s music.

When Nutini kickoff appeared in 2006, he was pigeonholed as “some other James Edgeless or James Morrison” which couldn’t be further from who he is.

“I wish I had Iggy Pop’south torso,” he laughs. “But live is e’er where I am myself. There’s been times earlier on when I was styled or made to look dissimilar — photos of me that were airbrushed to the betoken where I just don’t know what I look similar.

“But through my live performances it would always be a way to say, ‘Well, this is what I do’.”

When Nutini offset appeared in 2006, he was pigeonholed equally “another James Blunt or James Morrison” which couldn’t be further from who he is. He has produced Last Night In The Bittersweet with Dani Castelar and Gavin Fitzjohn, who also plays in his band.

He says: “The iii of u.s. really knew what nosotros were trying to achieve, and everybody was bringing their own matter to it. Nosotros had each other’due south backs. When we all liked something that was what mattered.”

Children Of The Stars is another great track on the album and was inspired by Nutini’south love of sci-fi novels. He says: “I’d been reading Women Of Wonder before bed, which is the outset line of the vocal.

“This happens now and once more and I f***ing love it when it happens but I got up one morning and I had heard a song in my dream. It gives me a real buzz. I record everything on my phone so if information technology runs out of battery, so my brain goes. When a song comes to me in a dream, it’s wicked.

“I promise the anthology gets myself beyond what I’ve been doing and where I’ve been at, that’s all I can ask. I can’t look for people to hear Take Me Take Mine, Heart Filled Upward and Julianne and then get involved in the gigs.

“I wanted to become the songs out there as early equally possible because I wanted fans to become familiar with them when I play alive, especially TRNSMT (the Glasgow festival he headlines adjacent weekend).

“I’yard not really very precious virtually them in terms of they demand much ceremony, I only demand them to be heard.”

• Terminal Night In The Bittersweet is out today.

5

5

5