A shade of Gray

What's the meaning of life?" David Gray repeats the question. "I haven't a clue. I don't know if there is one... If there is, I haven't discovered it yet," he says over the phone from the UK.

"Music is my coping strategy with being alive."

Doesn't sound too positive, I say. You make it sound like a constant ordeal. "Well, we're given no choice, are we? You're born into the world around you. And you have to deal with it in some way."

Gray is currently touring his latest album, Draw the Line, and will be playing at the Skywards Dubai International Jazz Festival in February.

"I pour my heart and my soul into my music," he says. "Because music can uplift you, and other people. Music can make people connect."

Despite the rosy picture painted by sales of 12 million albums, fame wasn't easily won. "It took a while before the breakthrough came," the British singer-songwriter says of the years between his debut album, 1993's A Century Ends, and 1998's White Ladder, the album that thrust him into the international spotlight. "But when it came it brought with it huge change, and massive global success.

"I went from one extent to the other, and that takes some getting used to. There are different things you have to guard against. Before you've made it, you've got to guard against becoming bitter and twisted; when you've ‘made it', you have to be careful that you're not fooled by success."

No natural fit

Gray's made a huge leap. He's gone from playing minor gigs to get his music out, to featuring on charts around the globe, boasting best-selling albums, a Q award, two Ivor Novellos, a Grammy and a Bafta nomination, as well as two Brit nominations. "It didn't fit naturally — me and being famous..." He continues after a pause: "That was never what I pursued."

I want to believe him — a hint of sadness permeates every syllable when he says, "Fame was never an end in itself. All I was after was an audience for my music."

That audience he found in Ireland, where his breakthrough album, White Ladder, has sold more copies than any other. But the people there were tuned into him long before his big break. "People connect with music differently. It often felt like it wasn't going to work out for me. But playing in Ireland was a lucky move — I touched people there. Whenever I felt a lapse into that sense of futility, I'd go back there. Audiences there kept me sane, as an artist."

Why does he think he finds such a favourable reception there? "I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with the country's long history of acoustic music — of story, lyrics...

"People there listen to what you have to say in your songs. Ireland was a springboard to the rest of the world."

That penchant for lyricism has led to Gray writing lines like: "Crouched in a hole like a mud-streaked fugitive," on Fugitive, the first single of Draw the Line. "It's an evocative line," he says.

"No, it was not inspired by news footage of Saddam Hussain being dragged out of a hole he'd been hiding in. But it is an evocative line that does conjure up images like that."

Gray is a poet at heart, and he's teamed up with another in Annie Lennox for Full Steam, one of two duets on his latest album. The sense of loss and nostalgia on the track is almost tangible: "All our lives we've dreamed about it/ Just to find that it was never real/ This sure ain't no great Valhalla/ Coming closer each turn of the wheel/Forlorn, adrift on seas of beige/ In this our Golden Age."

"I needed someone to sing the other part," he says of working with Lennox. "I sent her the track and she loved it. I also sent it to other people, but she got there first. That's a good thing."

Of the new album, tracks like Fugitive and Full Steam will likely take their place among firm favourites like Babylon and Please Forgive Me. But along with his uneasy relationship with the fame that's found him, the 41-year-old is ambivalent about film and television's love of his music.

His Bafta nomination came from his soundtrack work on Amma Asante's 2004 film A Way of Life, and his music is often featured on the small and silver screen, from Smallville, E.R., Scrubs and Alias to Serendipity, Wimbledon and Ladder 49. "I must admit, I haven't seen many things my music's in.

"I'm not a specific fan of Hollywood. I'm not really into TV."

Slow down

So how does he unwind? "My drug is nature," he says. "I enjoy being outdoors, taking walks and the like. And I love football — Man U.

"What seem like big gaps between releases really isn't all that big, although I have deliberately slowed down. I have to recharge my batteries, it's important to me. Plus, there are things like finding the right deal, securing finance and other problems in the music industry you have to deal with.

"Sometimes these things take longer than you think."

While the release date for Draw the Line was moved back from spring to summer, Gray has been touring constantly. He says fans can expect another dose of his particular brand of folk and alternative rock with elements of electronica soon. "Yes, I've been recording. The new material should be out by spring. Late spring."

That just might mean Gray's fans in Dubai could be treated to a double dose of new material when he headlines the penultimate night of the jazz festival here in February. "I've played the festival before. It'll be good to get back there."

Don't miss it

David Gray is the headline act at the Skywards Dubai International Jazz Festival on Thursday February 18.

Looking back

David Gray shares his thoughts and memories about some of his recent albums:

White Ladder, 1998: "This album was made over four months in my spare bedroom. I had to borrow equipment, as I didn't have my own. This meant we had to constantly carry the stuff up and down the stairs, and it didn't really fit. It was hell."

Lost Songs 95–98, 2001:"It was made cheap. Really, with minimal instruments, at a small studio not far from a football club. When it came out, I thought 'sweet'."

A New Day at Midnight, 2002: "This came after 'success', which brought with it its own complications. All of a sudden, other things started happening, and you fall into a pattern. It was a difficult situation. It didn’t work out the way I wanted it to. No, I’m not happy with this album."

Life in Slow Motion, 2005: "I enjoyed the process of making this album. It hangs together well. It signalled a return to reconnecting with the music."

Draw the Line, 2009: "Believe me when I say this album is real good. I'm pleased with it. I poured my heart and soul into it, and it has a different vibe and feel to it. It gives me pleasure."

 
David's picks

Given David Gray's love of blending traditional folk with more modern sounds, the bands he thinks are bound to break out soon should come as no surprise. "They are emerging and they're amazing. Watch out for them," he says. Grizzly Bear (pictured): The Brooklyn-based indie rock band use traditional and electronic instruments. Their sound is often categorised as psychedelic pop, folk rock and experimental. Bibio: British music producer Stephen Wilkinson, better known as Bibio, fuses electronica and traditional folk music to create what some call intelligent dance music.

A bleak outlook

"The music industry is crumbling," David Gray says of the industry he's in. "It's in a state of collapse. The unintended leverage that money is given and it is used to the benefit of a few — it just doesn't work.

"We're in dire straits; it's a wasteland. But it will clear the way for a different form to emerge. "The thing is, things will get a lot worse before it gets better..." Gray admits that's not a positive outlook. But how does he see his place in all this? "As long as I can just make my music, I couldn't give a f**k about the industry."

Lost Songs 95-98, 2001:"It was made cheap. Really, with minimal instruments, at a small studio not far from a football club. When it came out, I thought ‘sweet'."

A New Day at Midnight, 2002: "This came after ‘success', which brought with it its own complications. All of a sudden, other things started happening, and you fall into a pattern. It was a difficult situation. It didn't work out the way I wanted it to. No, I'm not happy with this album."

Life in Slow Motion, 2005: "I enjoyed the process of making this album. It hangs together well. It signalled a return to reconnecting with the music."

Draw the Line, 2009: "Believe me when I say this album is real good. I'm pleased with it. I poured my heart and soul into it, and it has a different vibe and feel to it. It gives me pleasure."