Adem is a busy fellow. This year he released his second solo album, recorded a new Fridge record, toured nationally and internationally, played several festivals and curated his own, Homefires. And in a couple of weeks' time, he's playing in a library, because he loves them. The end of the year sees him head out to Germany and the Netherlands, and in January 2007 he is involved in the innovative 0° of Separation tour with Vashti Bunyan, Juana Molina and Vetiver. Beck spoke to him about the album, Homefires and his plans for next year.

We’ll start with what you’ve been doing recently. Your second album Love and Other Planets was released a couple of months ago in the US. I know you went out there to promote it, so how did that go?

It was really good – it got a strong response. People were wondering what was going on at first; the album came out in the UK in April, and US websites were sometimes reviewing the imported version, so there was a bit of confusion about the release date. I played in New York, which was great.

You also supported Juana Molina on tour over there and in Canada - how did that go?

That was good fun. There were four of us in a little minivan travelling from coast to coast. That meant 18 hour drives sometimes, which was tiring, but it was good. I’ve met Juana before as she played at Homefires, which is a festival that I organise.

Was it the first time you'd played in North America?

It wasn't the first time, no. I've played there before, supporting Badly Drawn Boy and Explosions in the Sky.

You also recently supported Vetiver in Europe. Did you enjoy that?

Yes, that was great – I did that for three weeks, came home and then went out to the US. They are a good bunch. We’re doing a tour together next year with Juana Molina and Vashti Bunyan called 0° of Separation. We’re going to play on each other’s sets, and nobody’s taking a full band.

So nobody’s headlining as such?

No, it’s a bit of a jumble – a really nice improvisation. I’ve worked with Vashti before – I played on her album [Lookaftering] – so she might sing on one of my songs, or I might sing on one of hers…I’m really excited about it.

How did it come about?

It’s funded by the Contemporary Music Network. Usually they do crossover stuff like classical music with hip hop. My friend recommended us to them and we got the tour around that. It’s a nice format. It’s going to be really special and I’m very excited about it.

I sometimes think it looks as if you’re permanently on tour. You seem to have been touring on and off since the release of the album. Do you enjoy it?

I do enjoy it, but I don’t enjoy being away from friends and family. It is exhausting, and although you often imagine it to be an adventure it isn’t, really, because you spend most of your time in a van, then you go to a hotel, then you’re in the van again … so, if I play in Berlin, I don’t actually get to see Berlin. But I’ve met some lovely people and I do enjoy it.

It must be hard work ...

Well, I wouldn’t say it’s hard work – it’s not digging ditches or anything like that – but maybe not as much fun as you might imagine.

You’re playing a library in a couple of weeks …

Yes, it’s a small library west of Glasgow - The Clarkston Community Library - and that came out of the blue. I’ve always loved libraries and I think anything that encourages people to use them is brilliant. It’s going to be very small and intimate – it’s limited capacity, but it is free. The next day I’m doing my 'Assembly' project [at Barrhead Community Library], which is a mass improvisation. Anyone can just come along, play an instrument and see what happens. That’s free as well but there’s limited space so people need to get there early!

Tell us a bit more about Homefires – how did that come about?

There have been three Homefires so far. I do one a year. The first one came about because lots of things I do come into being when I think “I wish someone would do this…”, but then if everyone thought that, nothing would happen. I wanted to showcase the music I was loving but which wasn’t being put on, to bring a lot of love into gigs. It’s a two-day inner London festival that has three main ideas:

The first is that after speaking to friends, I’ve noticed that people often say the worst thing about when you do well is the commitment to play the hits. So I invite acts that are too big to play a 500-capacity venue in inner London and I invite them to just play whatever they want to play.

Secondly, I get lots of demos and advance copies from all over the world. I get to hear lots of great stuff, so I try to find the next interesting thing – like Joanna Newsom, Jose Gonzalez, Willy Mason, Micah P Hinson – they’ve all played Homefires.

The third thing is about interesting and challenging music that might not ever become very well known, and giving that the chance to be exposed. People like the Elysian Quartet or Pierre Bastien, who uses mechanics to build robots to create music.

Mostly, though, I just wanted to put on an event that everyone could enjoy. There are people who met at the first Homefires who meet up again each year – so people have Homefires buddies, which I think is great. It’s really friendly. The atmosphere is inspired from when I was about 13 or 14 and started going to gigs and there was this band called Piao, who put on these amazing shows, where people would sell cakes and things like that – it was a poppy punky picnic.

Did you think it would become such a permanent fixture?

The first was going to be a one-off, but afterwards a lot of people emailed me and said that they enjoyed it so much. I couldn’t not do another. It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it.

From the way you’ve described it, the friendly atmosphere sounds a bit like Green Man, which I went to for the first time this year.

Green man’s like an unofficial sister festival to Homefires. The countryside version of Homefires.  I love it.

We also saw you at Summer Sundae, and your harmonium fell apart. We spoke to Kieran Hebden a while back and he said it was 100 years old. Is that true?

(Laughs). It’s nearly 100 years old! It’s an old circus thing…they don’t really make them any more. Well, they don’t really make them properly anymore, anyway. It was in a better condition when I first started using it. I fixed it up after I got it, but it’s been busted and the wood has been beaten up a little, although the bellows still work. I love the sound of harmoniums.

Where did you get it?

eBay. I got my first one from Lark in the Morning, which is a folk shop in America that sells all sorts of instruments – they have a few shops. I got mine from the one in San Francisco and took it touring with Fridge.

The band you play live with seems to have an amazing chemistry. Where did you find these people?

They’re all friends from school or friends of friends. The worst thing about having a great band – the only bad thing about it, actually – is that you know they will all do their own thing eventually, because they’re that good. They’ve all got solo projects. It will be sad to think that I’ll have to find others one day – this is the third incarnation of the band – but they’re great musicians. Very talented. We spend a lot of time together on the road and also outside of that, we do go out together and I think the chemistry comes from that.

Going back to the album, I think Love and Other Planets is quite broad in its scope, but at the same time, the lyrics feel very intimate. When you write, what comes first - lyrics or music?

Usually it’s all done at once. That’s beauty of recording at home, and I think you can hear that. The drum influences the meter of the lyrics, which in turn influences something else – everything is interlinked, and everything is important. There’s a lot going on, but nothing is superfluous. So, yeah, mostly it’s done simultaneously but sometimes I will polish ideas and lyrics afterwards to get the depth of information into the words. I may change the lyrics a little bit.

You must be pleased with the way the record turned out?

I am really pleased. This is what I wanted to do. I wanted to do something more ambitious and challenging than Homesongs, and to push my skills at home recording. Homesongs has lasted over time and with Love and Other Planets I wanted to make a record that grew over time, so you get more and more detail with each listen.

I really think it’s a grower.

I’m glad you say that because that’s what I wanted it to be. Some people didn’t like it at first because it wasn’t Homesongs II, but I think that the essence of me and the atmosphere that I try to create is still there.

I especially like the title track; I think it grew on me the most, especially after I saw it performed live.

The title track was a turning point actually – that and Spirals. I did them at the same time and they’re a kinetic link – it was difficult to decide the overarching idea with which to produce the album. It could easily have been electric guitar and bass instead and those two songs helped focus everything.

Speaking of recording, Kieran told us that the new Fridge album has been finished - when is it due for release? Do you plan to tour it?

May or April time. We would like to play shows, but it’s challenging because we’re all really busy. Kieran is doing Four Tet and the Steve Reid stuff, Sam [Jeffers] is studying politics at Harvard and I’ve got Homefires … it’s just a case of finding a window when we can all do it. We would like to do a couple of UK shows, at least, around May or April.

What inspired to become a musician?

I think I got the idea that I could actually be one around the age of thirteen or fourteen when I was at secondary school, where I met Kieran and Sam and we formed Fridge. We were also at the same school as Hot Chip, so I was surrounded by people who were interested in music. It was a happy inner London comprehensive. I started going to gigs – people like Quickspace Supersport and Pavement – and then we performed our own. I was surrounded by inspiration.

And what in music excites you at the moment?

The new Joanna Newsom album. I’m a big fan. The addition of the orchestral touches is wonderful and very sensitively done. I think Van Dyke Parks’ arrangements are sometimes hit and miss, but Jim O’Rourke tied it all together really well.

It’s funny you should say that – we asked Kieran that question and he said Joanna Newsom too.

That’s not surprising, because we grew up learning about music together. Our tastes are similar and informed by each other.

OK, last question – what else is planned for 2007 apart from 0° of Separation and the Fridge album?

I’ll be releasing Assembly II, which is the recording of the second Assembly that took place at the Tate Britain – forty people banging things. I will also be touring, and there will be Homefires over the summer. Then, after the summer, I’ll sit down with a pen and paper and my computer and write again. I’m also working on a covers album, popping in and recording when I can. I've always enjoyed watching people play covers as it gives an insight into where their music comes from.  I started playing covers in my live set more and more often.  I thought it might be a good thing to work on an album of music that has influenced me for the same reason - to colour my existing work and give another perspective on where the music I make comes from.

You’re a very busy chap.

Always busy, but in the nicest possible way.

Love and Other Planets is out now on Domino. You can find out more about Adem, and read his diary, on his website: www.adem.tv

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