IT is hard to find "a new normal, a new way", says Imelda May, in the wake of releasing her post-break-up album, Life. Love. Flesh. Blood.
The pocket dynamo Dubliner is touring Britain for the first time in more than three years, the first time since her divorce from husband and musical collaborator Darrel Higham after 18 years.
"It's a cathartic experience making a record and it's a lovely thing to be able to do; to put it all down on paper and make sense of things and to be able to do that in a creative way, but then it's weird to have to be interviewed about it," says 42-year-old Imelda, who will be singing songs from the new record at York Barbican on Tuesday in the only Yorkshire show of her 17-date tour.
"Part of the reason you write a song is to not have to talk about it, but it's the same with having a rockabilly look for a while and people asking about that, and you think, 'god, do I have to talk about that?!'"
Imelda May: "Giving yourself permission to be happy again"
Life. Love. Flesh. Blood arrived in March after a year-long writing process. "It started off as a heartbreak album and all the the things that go with that; the break-up, the regret; and then that thing of finding yourself in the position of being single, finding someone, falling in love, feeling guilty, and letting yourself go, giving yourself permission to be happy again," says Imelda. "That journey goes all the way round on the album."
Where once Imelda May was pigeonholed as a rockabilly queen, Life. Love. Flesh. Blood finds her exploring blues, soul, gospel, folk, rock, acoustica, cinematic drama and balladry on a set of boldly personal, intimately autobiographical songs, such as Black Tears, How Bad Can A Good Girl Be and The Girl I Used To Be, recorded with producer T Bone Burnett over seven days in Los Angeles.
"I'm now in a good place, singing my heart out in the studio or at a gig, and if people are coming to the shows, I'd like to think that the upside of me bearing my soul on the album is that they can really enjoy me doing that again on stage."
Imelda made the record with the same LA musicians that graced Alison Krauss and Robert Plant’s Raising Sand album, and as T-Bone Burnett noted, after the changes in her life, there was a wild intensity to her writing and open-heartedness to her singing, matched by an honesty and generosity.
"I hope life makes you a better writer and a better singer," says Imelda
"I'd like to think that my voice is better than ever," she says. "I'd been writing and singing for a long time, since I was 16, and I got known for being 'that retro rockabilly girl from Ireland', but that was only for seven years and I've been singing for 26.
"I've done jazz, soul, gospel, and part of the reason for doing punkabilly at that point was I was told not to do it, but I always loved that link between punk and rockabilly, so when I was told to step away from it, I wanted to explore it even more.
"I still love that music and I love women in rock'n'roll, but I've done that and I knew when I was writing this album that I wanted to be able to use my voice more, and I've certainly done that in making this record. I hope life makes you a better writer and a better singer and I think my music shows that."
Imelda will be singing all 15 songs from the album, including four from the deluxe edition, along with songs from her back catalogue. "I loved writing the new record, recording it with the band, making the videos, and I'm just dying to put my heart into singing those songs live," she says.
Imelda May plays York Barbican on May 16, 7.30pm. Box office: 0844 854 2757, at yorkbarbican.co.uk or on the door from 7pm.
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