Michael says he felt he was at a crossroads in 2020, spending most of his time focused on playing live shows.
Then when Covid and lockdown arrived, he made his first record, Highfield Suite.
“I gave myself a kick up the backside and said I would make an album, a real bedroom project,” he says.
“It was being made in a cupboard about four in the morning, but it did OK – and then I got some funding to make the next one. “
That album was Thin White Road – recorded at Black Bay Studio on the Isle of Lewis, and featuring a much more expansive sound than before, with a full band.
Michael and his bandmates spent part of a freezing January on the album, with light fading by early afternoon each day.
Among the songs completed there was Evelyn, the tune that so impressed Paul Mescal.
“We’d get up late each day, go for a walk while there was still light, see a couple of sheep and boats, then go back in to record a song.
“There was surprisingly little time for drinking and lounging around as I hadn’t finished quite a few of the songs until I was there.
“For something like Evelyn, it wasn’t done until the night before and I was frantically trying to get lyrics done. But the environment relaxes you – there is nothing else for you to do there, so that means there are no distractions.”