The singer-songwriter on breaking up his band, recovering from a stroke, being too old to be a punk, and the chaos of recording with Mark E Smith

In these deeply troubled, fractured, febrile times, why did you call the new record Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation? smileywombat
It was Grace’s choice [Grace Maxwell, his wife and musical collaborator]. Up in Helmsdale [in the Scottish Highlands], in my studio, I have an art deco radiogram speaker which has a sort of sunburst thing with that phrase written on it. For £60 on eBay – pristine! It was the BBC World Service motto. When we were casting about for a title for the new record, it seemed like a great expression. Grace said, if you’re going to call it that you have to write a song with that title. So I did.

I very much enjoyed the new song Knowledge and the video, shot in Helmsdale. Do you like to travel much these days or are you pretty much happy at home? nogs09
London is still my town. But I like Helmsdale, and Grace loves it. But when I was seven, eight years old, every holiday I spent in Helmsdale, walking with Stuart, my grandfather. And, one year, Mum and Dad said, I think we’ll go to Spain. I said, you can go wherever you like – I’m going to Helmsdale. We’ve been abroad loads of times since I had the stroke [in 2005] – to Japan once, to Australia. But I love getting home to the studio. That fragrance of the air. The fresh air. It’s beautiful.