On the back of his latest album, JIM, English neo-soul artist Jamie Lidell may have gained notoriety for his one-man show technique. However, with a band now part of his entourage, things will be very different when he saunters south to tour Australia.

“It’s been intense, and great,” he says of the experience of performing with a band, rather than by himself. “It’s obviously something completely different – it’s a whole other thing, not being on my own.”

Previously, his live shows have involved tape loops triggered on-stage, and as much a sense of sonic experimentation as much as they have performing the songs – œstraight’. Converting his older songs, such as those found on his breakthrough 2005 release Multiply, is turning out to be a lot easier than he expected.

“The songs on the record are played live in a way, so they do convert pretty easily, so it’s been really good,” Jamie confirms. “I’ve got great players so my stupid unclear instructions somehow get through.”

Stupid, unclear instructions – do you mean telling them to bend the fret just so, or something equally dictatorial? “I’m not really a natural band leader so when I have an idea I just hope that everyone can interpret it properly,” he surmises. “I’m trying my best, but years of being a solo artist has made it hard for me to communicate with everyone, but I’m trying to learn.”

Instead, Jamie wishes that he’d spent more time learning the piano so that he could explain things in terms of chords, and musical notation. “At the moment I’m trying to describe things by singing what I imagine – it’s a vocal thing.” That must lead to interesting interpretations. Jamie explains that he quite literally sings how he wants the guitar line to be, for instance, and then the band takes its cue from that. “It’s kind of the only way I know,” he shrugs.

Soul, and neo-soul, has been embraced by the buying public and also by the media since Multiply raised his profile as a solo artist. Before that, he had credible turns with indie bands, most notably Super Collider, where he teamed with Christian Vogel for two albums in 1999 and 2002. Since Jamie’s first solo set, the likes of Amy Winehouse have spearheaded a movement that’s seen a myriad of copycats. But whilst many of those acts have gained notoriety and fame, Jamie is content to let his music lead the way.

“She has that sensation attached to her,” he says of Winehouse, the tabloid dream who best encapsulates the sound, “and somehow it seems to have outshone the music in a lot of ways. Record companies have maybe tried to capitalise on her success with Duffy and Adele, and other artists that they think can have some sort of appeal because of the movement kind of thing, but it’s funny because it hasn’t been so successful for me, being a bloke! It seems to be a girl thing.”

Why is that? “Partly because I don’t have very good hair!” Jamie guffaws. “That’s definitely part of my mistake. But I don’t know.”

Jamie is quite candid that while he isn’t a tabloid dream, it makes him harder to – œsell’ to the public, and be considered part of a scene. “I’m not as easy to put on the shelf in the way some other artists are. It’s a big part of how the machine works – but I’m learning slowly but surely about all those details. But I think I’ve made good music and got out there, and – hey! – I think to be honest, maybe I just don’t want that thing.”

He’s aware that the piquing interest in neo-soul of the British variety has certainly helped him, getting songs on the likes of hit television shows such as Grey’s Anatomy. He believes that a lot of the greater interest in his sort of music is because people simply want to hear well-constructed songs again.

“That’s why I started doing it,” he agrees. “I felt like there was a vacuum in songwriting, and it all gets back to good songs. I think there has been a lot of good songs, so I’m happy about that.”

So the importance of the structure of the song cannot be understated. “I don’t have a really strict mathematical method,” Jamie says. “Usually with me I just walk down the street, grab my mobile phone, hum a little melody. Sometimes it has a lyric attached and I think, – œAh, that’s catchy.’ Usually I start with a chorus. In a way I use a lyrical fulcrum to write and explore – you can’t really write without a title to the piece. I usually start with that and explore from there.”

Jamie Lidell’s JIM is out now on Warp through Inertia. The man and his live troupe are swinging down under for the following shows.

Tues 30 Dec – Falls Festival, Lorne
Wed 31 Dec – Falls Festival, Marion Bay
Thurs 1 Jan – Field Day, The Domain, Sydney
Sat 3 Jan – Southbound Festival, Perth
Fri 9 Jan – The Forum, Sydney
Sat 10 Jan – The Corner Hotel, Melbourne