It’s about ten years ago, I was lecturing in performance art in Yeovil and was in this band - Automatic Dlamini. She came to one of our gigs and gave me a tape of demos. I just thought she had the most amazing, mature voice - even then, when she was 18. So, she started working with us. What did it sound like? Lots of percussion and slide guitar

Whose idea was it to do this album now?

Polly had heard an instrumental piece I’d written for ballet, liked it and asked if I could write some other pieces for her. Writing songs instead of just producing for her or being in her band was weird at first, but it actually became quite ordered, because of the distinct roles - I just did the music, she wrote the lyrics. We kept out of each other’s way.

You do a mad cover of Is That All There IS? by Peggy Lee...

While we were making Dance Hall, Polly had a phone call from Julian Schnabel. He was using the original in his film and asked Polly if she’d cover it. We were gonna do it like the original, with strings, but we learnt it in half an hour and it seemed right the first time we played it.

Who's doing the ballet for Dance Hall?

A guy called Martin Bruce is doing it, he’d put together a show using songs from Rid Of Me, about the same time as the last tour. This time he asked Polly if he could have some music, and we were doing Dance Hall at the time, so it seemed appropriate. The ballet’s touring early next year and Polly and I will be in the band. Yeah, we’ll be visible on stage, but I’ve no idea what it’ll be like yet.

When's the next Polly Harvey LP due?

Polly’s writing songs at the moment. I heard some demos and it’s a progression again. I can’t say anymore, because she’s very sensitive about her work and I don’t evev know if those tracks will ever be used or if they’re just sketches. I’d be surprised if it’s out before this time next year.