Return to roots 'sparks something' for Imelda

Walking where her mother and grandmother did before her, she observes the touch of a hand on someone's back, a conversation in a dark alleyway, brief interactions. A few weeks later she compares it to being in a glass box, detached from reality.

'It's unsettling and beautiful at the same time,' the 42-year-old explains down the phone from her garden in London.

'It just sparks something in your head, a few lines of song or poetry. I walked into the town and it all poured out of me, just a 20 minute walk.'

She can't be in that head space all the time, with a four-year-old daughter, but describes it as an escape, 'Especially when you're writing about bad times.'

Those bad times are rather prominent in Life. Love. Flesh. Blood, her fifth studio album. In 2015, after 12 years of marriage, she divorced her former band member and father to Violet, Darrel Higham.

Writing allowed her to channel the negativity into something positive and produce a piece of work, produced by T-Bone Burnett, who has also worked with musicians such as Elton John and Elvis Costello. She ditched her signature rockabilly sound for soft rock and acoustic ballads.

It also coincided with a new look for the singer, as she swapped her trademark highlighted quiff for a fringe.

The transformation began with scrapping any kind of plan for the record.

'I didn't intend to do anything other than write an honest album. I was fed up of planning what I was going to write. That freedom was lovely and life was changing so I dug deep and now I'm feeling the pros and cons of doing it.'

Life.Love.Flesh.Blood is out now on Decca Records. Imelda May is currently on a UK and Ireland tour running until the end of May