Pixie queen's earthly side

Within a couple of minutes of meeting, any ideas of a twee little pixie unable to tie her own shoelaces are blown out of the water. As we chat over a cup of tea in Glasgow’s CCA, Campbell is down-to-earth, intelligent, funny and sharp as a tack. Her hair is longer now and she looks more womanly. So what about that reputation - does it bother her that she’s so often misrepresented? "Yeah, that really annoys me but now I just ignore it," she says. "I just think it’s bollocks, but it’s other people’s problem. What’s that thing my Granny says, ‘If you get known for rising early you can stay in your bed all day.’ So in some ways it’s quite good because I can do anything I want and everyone assumes I’m this fragile little thing. People have got to have an angle, haven’t they?"

Although Campbell released two solo records as The Gentle Waves while in Belle and Sebastian, she has found establishing herself as a solo artist without the support and camaraderie of a band around her a steep learning curve.

"It is different being on your own, as I’m finding out," she says. "I sometimes feel like I’m flapping about in the breeze a bit, but it’s really liberating as well. It’s definitely a transitional time for me right now, but in spite of everything I think something really great’s going to happen."

Campbell is reluctant to talk about the past, specifically her time in Belle and Sebastian and her on-off relationship with the band’s lead singer, Stuart Murdoch. "It’s like any sort of relationship, sometimes things just run their course," she says of her decision to leave the band. "You just can’t explain it, it’s more like a feeling."

Campbell has every reason to look to her own rosy future. Her debut solo album under her own name, last year’s Amorino, was a quiet triumph. A carefully crafted and sumptuously orchestral affair, Amorino is hugely varied and features around 60 musicians on its 13 songs. Influences range from film soundtracks to French chanteuses and jangly pop, but everything is tightly arranged by the classically-trained Campbell. It is a grown-up and modern pop record.

Next week an even better EP is released. An eclectic blend of cover versions, collaborations and rearrangements, Time is Just the Same displays a singer and songwriter growing in confidence and heading for intriguing musical waters. The stand out track is her collaboration with Mark Lanegan, one-time singer with country-grungers Screaming Trees, now lending his gravelly tones to Queens of the Stone Age. On the surface it seems like a strange blend, but it works beautifully.

"I wanted Tom Waits to sing that song but he’s kind of uncontactable," says Campbell. "Anyway, a friend of mine who was a Screaming Trees fan said ‘What about this guy?’ and I really liked his voice, it’s just really soulful. You can tell a lot about a person from their voice because it’s like the sound of someone’s soul."

Elsewhere on the EP, Campbell duets with Glasgow indie stalwart Eugene Kelly of The Vaselines and covers the likes of Sonny Bono and Ennio Morricone. There is also a new song called ‘Bordello Queen’ where Campbell whispers the line, "You be the rooster and I’ll be the hen" in what can only be described as a sleazy fashion. So much for the ethereal pixie queen.

It’s all evidence of a musician maturing into something special. But while Campbell seems happy with the newfound creative freedom achieved with her split from Belle and Sebastian, she has also found herself exposed to less desirable elements of the music industry. "It’s been a reality check and kind of soul destroying," she says. "I’ve always tried to protect myself from the industry side of things, the shit side of doing music; but when you bring a record out you’re kind of reminded of it, because then you’re talking to record companies and press and stuff. It’s just difficult."

Campbell is a musician first and foremost, and reluctant to play the industry game. "I just think the most important reason to put out a record or to do any piece of art is first and foremost because you’re really, really into it and you really believe in it, not because lots of little girls will like you," she says. "It’s not about units or whatever, I totally have a complex with units - me and units don’t go. Then again, I suppose I just need to shut up and get on with it." This aversion for life in the public eye could easily dictate the direction Campbell takes in the future. Her music already has a cinematic quality about it, and it is a facet of her sound she’d love to explore further. "I’m a real movie fan, especially old movies, and I love atmospheric pieces of music," she says. "I’d love to do film work but I don’t know how easy it is to get into.

"Until I can get to do music for movies I guess I have to promote my music, but I’d much rather write for other people or be a hidden voice if I can, because you begin to feel more like a product than a human being."

There is a studied and precise air to Campbell’s records, and it’s clear from listening to them that she is someone who takes the art of songwriting very seriously. "I really do see it as a craft," she says, "but it’s a dying art. I was in the studio with some friends yesterday and they introduced me to some other people who asked what modern music I liked. The answer is none, but it’s not that I’m being obtuse or anything."

Campbell then namechecks artists such as Randy Newman, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash, but contrary to what she’s just claimed, she is a fan of plenty of not-so-elderly singers around, at least when it comes down to making music with them.

She has shown a love of collaboration and that looks set to continue. Projects in the pipeline are a full album with Mark Lanegan, another record with experimental Scottish jazz musician Bill Wells, some form of recording with James Iha, formerly of the Smashing Pumpkins, and there’s even talk of her doing a folk record.

For Campbell it’s all part of the learning process. "I do as many collaborations as I can," she says. "I just love doing it, and it’s a great way to learn and feed off other people."

Campbell is the antithesis of the dipsy image with which she has been tagged. She comes across as clued-up and self aware, and in her work she is beginning to fulfil her immense potential as a musician and composer. She might not like the business side of music, but hopefully she’ll stick at it, for the sake of her fans at least. She’s got too much self-confidence and talent not to.

"In spite of everything, I’m still in love with music and records," Campbell says. "I think that no one else is making the music that I like to listen to just now, so I’ll just make it myself."

The EP Time is Just the Same is out April 26