It wasn't this grand idea, it was mostly done by necessity.

It wasn't a concept. If I was writing a song and I wanted to record it, I wanted to capture an idea when I got it right away. I try to be spontaneous. The first draft may not be perfect but it's ...there's something special about it.

TAC - You were signed to Rough Trade with your band Birthday and then released a solo album? What happened there? That was rather short lived – did it make you feel bitter?

JG – It made me feel really sad. I always had a pretty intense vision of wanting to put out records since I was really young – I've had this idea, this thing I wanted to do. And through a series of circumstances I've been offered a little glimpse of that dream. At the end of that process – for the first time I questioned it – maybe it's snot want I'm supposed to be doing.

I worked through that by writing another bunch of songs, so I guess that's quite ironic.

TAC - What did you do after you returned to Portland?

JG - I was sitting in England for a while. I hadn't live in Portland before but.because a lot of my friends were there and they said here's good city to live in. I felt like intstantly bonded with Portland.

I didn't sing for a year and for me that's a big thing. I completely cleared the slate. I got a job – working at this hippie nudist spa. I wasn't actually walking around naked but I was surrounded by naked people.

It was therapeutic, Portland's like the Shire! It' cosy, but if you're not careful you can end up growing moss. I needed that time to rejuvenate and get back to music.

TAC - You did a whole load of dates at fans' homes? What inspired that idea?

JG – Well I hadn't toured enough to have a crazy fan base, so I couldnt' roll into town and sell out big shows. So it was more about finding 10 people who were really into what I did.