Music Features

It's a little after 12 on a Friday afternoon and I can hear an ambulance scream past the other end of the phone. Yet there's nothing critical about the condition of Ed Harcourt's career at the moment. In fact, life's so peachy he has the time to casually pick up a package from his local post office and perform an interview - simultaneously.

For a long time with Ed everything had been about the music - seven years of skillfully carved melodies riddled with love and love-lost lyrics are about to culminate in a picture postcard "best of" album.

Ed Harcourt (photo: Steve Gullick)

But talking to him now you get the impression that it's life which really inspires the once Mercury nominated musician - marriage, London, even Royal Mail - as opposed to record deals and song promotion.

Me time

In fact, even Ed Harcourt is annoying Ed Harcourt these days.

"This is going to be my last tour though for a while I think. I'm just going to take a break from me for a while. I just need to do other things for maybe a year or two."

This predominantly includes producing and co-writing. Ed highlights his recent work with Manchester starlet Josephine Oniyama as a particular treat - you heard it here first.

I make an effort to talk about the new album Until Tomorrow Then, which is named after one of the tracks that appear on the record and also featured on Ed's previous album The Beautiful Lie. For those unaccustomed to Ed's work, there really is no better starting point.

While songs such as Apple Of My Eye, She Fell Into My Arms and This One's For You will get the hearts of hopeless romantics fluttering, angst ridden Loneliness and the genuinely creepy Visit From The Dead Dog will rip them out still beating.

Fighting talk

Ed umms and ahhs over the album itself, seeming indifferent on how difficult it was to actually piece the music together. I finally get him to spill some musical beans.

"I just wrote the song to kind of cheer up my wife basically," he says of new single You Put A Spell On Me. "We're not seeing each other a lot at the moment because she's on tour with KT Tunstall."

And so we go full circle, it all comes back to life again - in this case marriage. It's in these areas where Ed finds the eagerness to express himself. He recounts a fracas that ended with someone stealing his phone, a brain scan and another guy being whacked off his bike with particular gusto.

The Cambridge xylophone

It's not a surprise though, the man from Lewes is renowned for his anger on occasions. He has smashed pianos on stage when audiences haven't paid adequate attention. In fact, he might even bring a xylophone he bought in Cambridge back to its spiritual home and give it similar treatment.

"Perhaps I'll bring it along. Perhaps I'll smash it to pieces and start a riot." And although the emphasis is on the "perhaps", you seriously can't put it beyond him.

You can listen to the full interview in streaming audio and hear Ed's insights on the upcoming tour, his plug for the Audiofiles, why you shouldn't mess with him and why I'm bordering on being a stalker.

Ed Harcourt is playing the Cambridge Graduate on Friday 12th October, go to www.edharcourt.com for details.