Jamie T is one of Britain's more mercurial stars of the last decade, a tag that essentially became permanent when he decided to spend several years in hiding.
He returned to the spotlight this fall to release a new album — Carry on the Grudge — and let fans know that he's still alive (seriously).
This week, he sat down with Faster Louder to dis the present music scene.
"Listening to the kind of music that came out in the five years that I had off, I felt like we were ahead of the curve," he said. "I think after Kings & Queens, we had said everything we needed to say. The sounds we created were what I wanted them to be and so it seemed like a good time to take stock, go away and come back with something different. We'd solidified the sound we had on the first record and I'm a believer that when you've got f--k all to say, not to say anything, because as an artist the worst thing you can do is just release pointless material.
"As for being relevant in the modern age, well you grow up as an artist so your music is always going to change and you hope it's relevant, but I don't want to worry too much about that because most of the s--t around today is dire."
As previously reported, a lack of confidence and an old panic disorder that kept flaring up prevented him from having much contact with the outside world in recent years.
"I always knew what I wanted to say," he told The Guardian. "But I struggled at points to write anything I'd deem releasable."
As far as the press goes...
"I don't want to be someone who says, 'Oh, I don't do interviews.' I don't want to be that guy,'" he said. "But talking about myself is not something I enjoy."
Fans were understandably disappointed when Jamie dropped off the face of the earth. Both of his albums were Top 5 in the U.K., and a handful of singles cracked the Top 25.
"I was exhausted," he said. "I've been doing this, music, since I was 15. And being a solo artist, it's all on you at the end of the day. I got to a point, maybe 23 or something, where I felt like I needed a break. I was waning. Wasn't sure what I was doing any more. I thought: f--k this, and cut it off."
But he's still been recording — more than 150 songs that sat on his hard drive until he decided to release 12 of them on Grudge.
