Matt Hales, the mastermind behind Aqualung, brings his beautifully haunting songs back to his hometown when he plays Southampton University in March.
BBC Southampton's Abbie Collins phoned him up for a chat.

Where are you at the moment?
I'm at home in South London. I was just practising a slightly fiendish bit of piano which is causing my brain a lot of trouble. We're just getting ready for our duo tour and we're playing some of our favourite songs by other artists and some of them have turned out to be quite difficult. It's kind of nice to unlock the mysteries of someone else's songs though.

Why did you decide to do a two man tour with your brother, Ben, before kicking off the full band tour in March?
One of the nice things about the whole 'Aqualung one man band' type vibe is that you can decide to present the stuff in all sorts of different ways. It's kind of a healthy thing to do for me and hopefully an interesting thing to do for the audience.

After spending so long building up the new songs, making the album and focusing on all the arrangement and sounds and production and the rest of it, it's quite nice to go back and reacquaint yourself with where the songs have come from and do a much simpler version. Sometimes you can find something new in the song. And also, if it's just the two of you, you get to play different sorts of venues and it's a different kind of experience which is good I think. It keeps us on our toes!

Can you tell us the songs you'll be covering?
No it's all top secret. I daren't because unless I can really figure out this piano part then this one certainly won't happen!

Do you get to boss your brother around as he's your guitarist?
Occasionally I suppose. Officially being the eldest and officially being his boss means there are a few glorious moments when I get to, but there's no need most of the time. He's a diligent soul. He's ever-so good.

Matt Hales

We last spoke to you at the end of 2002. Has there been a stand out moment for you between then and now?
It's been a year full of excellent moments actually. It's been really busy. I've never had a year like it. Previously, when I was in bands and struggling along you were sometimes just pretending to be busy but there's been no time for pretending this year because I really have been busy.

There have been loads of great times. Just recently we had the ridiculous rock thrill of playing Wembley Arena. That was kind of a little childhood dream realised. It was great to play in such a mammoth place and it went really well as well.

Did you say "Hello Wembley!"?
I think I actually did, about 20 times!

Easier To Lie is the next single. Tell us about it.
When I'm writing songs sometimes the words and melody come along at the same time and this was one of those occasions. I really wasn't sure what the words were supposed to mean for a little while. It was just the way I was feeling at the time. As time has gone on I've realised that I sort of did know what I was talking about. It's a weird song in all sorts of ways. It's quite a weird song musically. It's sort of about the disparity between what you think the world is going to be like and what the world is actually like and what kind of person you think you are and what kind of person you actually are. Something like that!

Is there a song that you wish you'd written?
Yeah millions, of course. There are so many brilliant songs. I suppose I don't really wish I'd written them because then I couldn't enjoy them as a punter. But there are certainly loads of songs that I just think are just exceptional. There's one that is a classic and I don't think people really listen to it and realise just how brilliant it is, and that's God Only Knows. It's just a work of art. It's an amazing song in every way. What an amazing line - to start a love song with "I may not always love you." And the music is just sublime.

What's your earliest memory?
I think my earliest memory is my mum and dad telling me that I was going to have a brother and being in their bed when I was about two. So I think it was the moment that I realised I was going to be a duo.

What are your plans for the rest of the year?
It just seems to be endless touring really. We do this two piece tour and then we go to Europe for a bit and then come back and do a full band tour here. Then we go to America and then to Europe again and then back to America. Then it's back to Europe again and then we come back here. And then it's the end of the year!