RODDY Woomble will not only be airing songs from his fourth solo album, The Deluder, at The Crescent in York, tomorrow night (March 20) but also previewing new material for his band Idlewild.

"I'll be performing as a duo, just with Andrew Mitchell, from Idlewild, who'll be playing piano and a bit of guitar and joining me on vocals," says the 41-year-old Scotsman. "It's always nice to play in a different way, to explore songs, play new ones, reinvent others.

"My solo career is not the same way I do things with the band, when the emphasis would be on a new album, but with solo gigs, some shows might be to play a new album but not always and through the years I have different musicians with me. so we treat the songs differently. This time, I'm playing songs from the latest album and some new songs I've written since then."

How is the Idlewild record progressing? "We're finishing it in May," says Woomble. "We started recording it in Los Angeles; recently we've been in Edinburgh at [band member] Rod Jones's studio. We recorded in Los Angeles before, when we were there for three months making 2005's Warnings/Promises. This time we'd been touring and booked the studio for a week and recorded five songs."

After Idlewild’s 2015 album Everything Ever Written, the Scottish indie band were set on writing and recording another album straight away, and they even started that process off, but they decided to take a break. Up in the Hebrides, Woomble began work on another record, one that would turn into his most personal, introspective set of songs, The Deluder.

During the creative process, Woomble turned 40, and he was struck by a quote by Danish philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who noted how "the first 40 years of life give us the text: the next 30 supply the commentary".

"That certainly got me thinking," said Woomble at the time. "The Deluder might be some sort of reaction, maybe justification, in the context of my life, my relationships, my choices, in the face of those ideas."

York Press:

"Anyone who writes songs is acting to a degree, but I've never trusted the heartfelt singer-songwriter who talks about their songs for ages," says Roddy Woomble

"I've softened my attitude a little on it, being 41 now," he says. "Turning 40 affected me in a creative way and emotionally too. Creatively, I was thinking, 'I've been making a living out of music since I was 19, describing my life through songs, so the album title refers to that, the role as a 'Deluder', working out who I am constantly."

As a musician presenting songs, are you a deluder, Roddy? "I think it's a bit of both. Anyone who writes songs is acting to a degree, but I've never trusted the heartfelt singer-songwriter who talks about their songs for ages before playing them, because invariably the songs are then rubbish, but the best songwriters, like Bob Dylan, don't need to explain them," he says. "I'm drawn to songs because they're mysteries.

"For me, quite often those who write the songs don't know what they're about and the meaning is only revealed later. That's why playing songs live is so vital, catching the feeling of that moment."

What can long-standing devotees of Woomble's songwriting expect from Idlewild's new material? "It's a bit more hopeful, whereas The Deluder was as introspective as I've ever been," he says. "The new songs are more optimistic. I'm focusing more on joy."

The songs, as ever, are open to any interpretation, and likewise the question of whether the songwriter's role involves delusion will be on the table. "A lot of it is that I've been doing this for over 20 years and I'm reflecting on that. Ultimately, I throw out the question to the listener," says Woomble.

"But what I do know is that you can evoke something, say something, in a song in three minutes, and you can't do that with a play, where it takes 90 minutes. That's why I love writing songs."

Roddy Woomble plays The Crescent, off Blossom Street, York, tomorrow (March 20), supported by Tom Joshua, 7.30pm. Tickets: in person from The Crescent or at seetickets.com